Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Doing it all
Hogs’ Tate pass-first, but ready to score
FAYETTEVILLE — For a basketball player known for his defense and passing, Jalen Tate is a pretty good scorer, too.
“He’s kind of a jack of all trades,” University of Arkansas men’s Coach Eric Musselman said. “Does a little bit of everything for us.”
Tate, a 6-6 senior point guard from Pickerington, Ohio, surpassed 1,000 points for his career in the Razorbacks’ 100-75 victory over the University of Central Arkansas last Saturday.
Perhaps more impressive than Tate’s season-high 17 points against the Bears, which pushed his all-time total to 1,013, were his career-high 11 assists without a turnover.
“That just goes to show you how versatile he is and how much he means to our team and what he brings to the game,” Arkansas junior guard JD Notae said. “You say he’s a pass-first player, but he also had 17 points. That’s Jalen Tate for you.
“And 11 assists, people don’t get that all the time. So, he did his thing.”
Tate, a graduate transfer from Northern Kentucky, didn’t realize how many assists he piled up in the UCA game.
“The numbers don’t mean so much to me,” Tate said. “It’s just the win. I’m trying to help us as much as I can.
“Honestly, I wasn’t even counting. It’s just they’re open, so I would love to get them the ball, and that’s what the point guard is supposed to do.
“That’s my role on this team — get everyone else going.”
Tate, who came into the UCA game averaging 9.2 points per game, scored 10 in the first half to help the Razorbacks lead 41-35 at halftime after they fell behind 22-12 with an uncharacteristically slow start.
“The way he controlled the game in the first half, he really was our spark,” Notae said.
Arkansas freshman guard Moses Moody, who is averaging team-highs of 16.0 points and 28.3 minutes, said he has been impressed with Tate.
“I’m a fan,” Moody said. “I like the way he plays. I would say he’s pass-first, because he’s always looking to get his teammates involved, but he’s willing and able to get a bucket when we need it.”
Mussleman said Tate helped rally his teammates.
“When we were struggling a little bit against Central Arkansas at the beginning of the game, I thought he was the one guy that came to the huddle and tried to regroup everybody and say, ‘Hey, is this really how we’re going to come out and play this game?’ ” Musselman said. “I think that he’s got great leadership qualities. He’s experienced. He’s confident.”
Moody said he admires Tate’s ability to maintain his composure.
“Personally, my favorite thing about Jalen is how level-headed he is and how he can stay calm in the midst of the game,” Moody said. “Coaches can get riled up and it’s a pretty heated environment, but Jalen is always able to talk with a level voice and slow it down and put everything in perspective.”
Tate is averaging 10.5 points, 4.7 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 24.0 minutes to help Arkansas (6-0) stay undefeated going into Sunday’s game against Oral Roberts University (3-4) at Walton Arena.
“He’s going to rebound his position, he’s going to make people shoot over a long, extended arm and he’s an opportunistic scorer,” Musselman said. “He doesn’t come right out of the gate and try to score the ball. He tries to get teammates involved, which is certainly a really, really important facet for any point guard.”
A three-time member of the Horizon League’s all-defensive team and the conference’s defensive player of the year last season, Tate spends most of the game guarding the opponent’s top perimeter scorer.
“It’s hard to take him off the floor because he’s so good defensively, and then you add in what he’s doing from an offensive standpoint,” Musselman said. “He’s been a really, really key piece to what we’ve done so far.”
Tate is shooting 55.6% from the field (25 of 45), including 46.7% on three-pointers (7 of 15). At Northern Kentucky, he shot 27.7% (39 of 141) on three-pointers.
“Since I stepped foot here, I’m really just trying to every single day better my shot, whether it’s off the dribble, step-ins, and trying to be the best player I can to help our team,” Tate said. “Really, it’s one of those things that we put in the type of work where if you don’t shoot it, you’re taking away from what you’ve been doing and pretty much wasting your time.
“Just trying to get more comfy taking the ones in rhythm, and when I don’t take one, my teammates are there to tell me, like, ‘Look, you were open, man. You’ve got to knock that down or you’re messing up our offense.’ ”
Last season, when Tate missed 10 games because of a wrist injury, he shot 18.2% (8 of 44) from beyond the arc. As a redshirt sophomore he shot 40.7% on three-pointers (24 of 59).
“The year before he had his hand injury, he shot the three really, really well,” Musselman said. “When we watched film, we really liked the release on his shot. We liked the backspin on his shot. We thought his hands and his feet were shotready when he caught the ball.
“So we thought just through repetitions of being here that he was going to get better and knowing that he would have a green light to take an open three when that shot was available to him.”
Musselman said he expected to rest Tate this week to help him heal up from a sore ankle and jammed finger, but that hasn’t been the case.
“He hasn’t missed a minute of practice, which has surprised us,” Musselman said. “We thought maybe toward the beginning of the week that he might need a day or two, but he’s gone through everything and seems to be really, really healthy.”