Revived Felix lifts UT’s fortunes
Senior regains passion in time to become key cog for program
AUSTIN— During his 19 years as a federal probation officer in Louisiana, Rodd Felix twice was forced to take another job. The first change happened after Hurricane Katrina, when he relocated his family to Atlanta for a few months.
The second came last spring and summer, when his son made him moonlight as a psychiatrist.
Javan Felix, Rodd’s oldest child, never needed any extra attention or encouragement before then. Even as a middle-schooler, he’d been unflappable, whether he was keeping his younger sisters upbeat during their time away from New Orleans or challenging bigger, stronger kids on the basketball court.
At Texas, the school he’d always insisted he was good enough to attend even when his first college scholarship offers came from much smaller programs, his sense of bravado grew. He started 23 games as a 5-11 freshman, and for three seasons he launched jump shot after jump shot with neither fear nor remorse.
But by last June, something was missing. His new coach, Shaka Smart, wondered if Javan “lost his passion.” His new teammate, UT freshman Kerwin Roach, noticed Javan was “down on himself.” And his father, who said he suddenly felt like a shrink, searched for ways to boost his spirits.
“He wasn’t the guy he used to be,” Rodd said. “Without a doubt, it was tough. It was disheartening.”
Javan doesn’t dispute any of this. Now that he’s back to his old self — and playing better than ever as a key scorer and emotional leader of the No. 24 team in the country — he can admit that basketball became a joyless endeavor a year ago.
As soon as practice was over, he didn’t want to hear about it anymore. The kid who’d grown up obsessed with basketball ever since Rodd and his wife, Tina, put one in his crib couldn’t even bear to watch the sport on TV.
“He told me that’s the only way he could survive,” Rodd said. “He had to put it out of his mind.”
Said Javan: “At one point, it wasn’t fun. I just had to find that fun in the game again.”
Health scare
Was it the concussions? Rodd and Tina worried about those. During a 12-month span from early 2014 to early 2015, Javan suffered three, all on freak plays. After his third, at Baylor last January, his parents spoke with multiple members of UT’s training and medical staff and received assurances from trainer Laef Morris and team physician James Bray that Javan wouldn’t be allowed to play until it was safe.
He suffered from headaches for several days and sat out UT’s next two games. After being cleared by doctors, he returned to action 11 days after the Baylor game.
“It was scary, just because I’d never been through anything like that,” Javan said. “The time in between them was short. It made the last one that much worse.”
And it wasn’t as though things were sunshine and roses otherwise. As the Longhorns slumped to another disappointing finish under then-coach Rick Barnes, the team’s morale suffered. Whether the losing contributed to Javan’s malaise, he’s not sure.
“I don’t know, to be honest with you,” Javan said. Weweren’t having fun as a team. It wasn’t fun out there playing. We weren’t doing as well. A lot of things go into it.”
Slowly, though, the old Javan re-emerged. Rodd said he noticed his son start to perk up after Smart was hired, as the player and coach started exchanging texts and phone calls almost immediately. But Smart said he wasn’t sure Javan had turned the corner until the fall, when he urged him to “take ownership of your season, your team, your life.”
“He has kind of a quiet inner belief in himself that I didn’t see before but I see now,” Smart said. “He’s our smallest guy, but he might be our toughest guy.”
Plays bigger than size
When Rodd heard that quote about his son, he laughed. Yes, he said, Javan’s new coach sure has him pegged.
“He’s got a little Napoleonic complex hiding in there,” said Rodd, a former NAIA player who, at 6-2, stands at least 3 inches taller than his son. “He doesn’t always show it. But inside, it’s burning.”
It burned when Javan hit the game-winner in an upset of then-No. 3 North Carolina in December. It burned when he iced another huge win at then-No. 6 West Virginia in January. And it burns each time he slices through shot-blockers and somehow manages to swish floaters over guys who tower over him.
After the North Carolina game, Tar Heels coach Roy Williams praised Javan’s “old-manYMCA game.” Those, UT guard Kendal Yancy said, are the types of comparison Javan loves.
“I think that’s his motivation,” Yancy said. “He’s not the tallest guy out there. So he has to prove his point in some type of way and stand out in some type of way. And he definitely stands out.”
As for the passion? Javan swears it’s back, and the explanation is simple.
“Anewstart,” he said. “I just needed a new start.”