Cummings’ basketball talent has found a home at Colgate

Nelly Cummings decided to go school shopping after a season at Bowling Green University. So, the Lincoln Park grad filled his cart with must-haves, such as a challenging academic environment, a strong basketball team, a family atmosphere.

His search led him to Colgate — the university located in Hamilton, N.Y.

“It’s a great culture here, it fits me,” said Cummings, who hails from Midland, Beaver County. “It felt like home.”

Correction: Feels like home.

Cummings is making the most of his second college act, fortifying a lineup that features four returning starters from last season’s NCAA tournament team. Colgate is 15-5, 6-1 Patriot League, and chasing a second consecutive conference title.

All five starters score in double figures.

“We’re successful because we’re a family — the coaches, the players,” said Cummings, a 6-foot sophomore guard who averages 11.5 points. “I really value that. I wanted a place with a lot of love going around, people caring for each other.”

Cummings’ debut performance in Colgate’s season opener saw him go 7 of 8 from the field, including 1 of 1 from 3-point range, en route to 16 points in an 80-75 win at the New Jersey Institute of Technology

This came after sitting out last season due to NCAA Transfer rules.

“I was fully prepared,” said the former Post-Gazette Player of the Year, who averaged 3.6 points in 13.2 minutes in 30 games at Bowling Green as a freshman. “When I wasn’t playing, I visualized that first game. And when it finally got there, I got the jitters out. I did everything I could to help us win the game.”

That electric start was a harbinger of things to come for Cummings, who added 10 at Syracuse, 16 versus SUNY Cortland and 21 at Binghamton in his first nine games. Part of a talented three-guard offense, he ranks third on the team in scoring and second in assists with 21.

Moreover, his 3-point fieldgoal percentage of .410 (34 of 83) ranks fifth in the Patriot League.

“I know,” he said, “that I found the right place at Colgate.”

For veteran coach Matt Langel, a disciple of former Temple coach Fran Dunphy, Cummings was a gift from the basketball heavens. Or, more precisely, from Renell Cummings, Nelly’s father.

The elder Cummings reached out to Langel after his son had seen several of Colgate’s games. Impressed by the Raiders’ aggressive style of play — Colgate leads the Patriot League at 75 points per game — Cummings was hooked, despite offers from other schools.

“In full disclosure, they contacted me first,” Langel said, laughing. “I got an email from his dad. In the first round of recruiting, he probably wouldn’t have answered my calls [because bigger schools were involved]. But his dad liked how we coached and thought it would be a good fit. We did our homework on him, and we thought he’d be a good fit, too.”

Cummings’ attributes on the court are unmistakable: Quick thinker; deep shooter; feverish defender; playmaker. WPIAL fans — and Lincoln Park opponents — surely remember these things, given he finished as the WPIAL’s fourth all-time scorer (2,411 points). He led Lincoln Park to three WPIAL crowns and a PIAA title.

At Colgate, he’s back to his successful ways. Just ask Army and Navy.

In a span of five days from Jan. 6-11, he scored 24 points (including 19 in the second half) at Army and 20 at Navy. Cummings went a combined 8 of 13 from 3-point range in the two victories.

When asked about facing some of the better programs in Division I, Cummings didn’t blink.

“It’s basketball at the end of the day; that’s what I always tell people,” he said. “I can play against LeBron James or Steph Curry — they still bleed the same way we bleed, it’s still basketball.”

At Colgate, Cummings is part of a program that looks to build on a 2018-19 season that saw it reach the NCAA tournament for the first time in 23 years. Though the Raiders lost to No. 2 seed Tennessee, 77-70, in the first round, they held their own. They trailed by only two with 5:34 remaining.

“We want to get there this year and win some games,” Cummings said. “We’re not going there to lose.”