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Chris McIllhatton found his way from Australia to Brooklyn, and now has helped Brooklyn find its way to the NCAA Tournament. |
Egzon Gjonbalaj, Lorenzo Williams, and Jamel Gist are Brooklyn’s main sources of offense. But when the Bulldogs face NYU in the NCAA Tournament’s first round on Friday, the Violets would be wise to pay attention to yet another scorer.
Junior guard Chris McIllhatton played a huge role in Brooklyn’s CUNYAC championship win over Baruch on Feb. 26, with 14 points off the bench. He hit four of seven 3-pointers in the Bulldogs’ 76-67 victory.
McIllhatton has scored in double figures in only four games this season, and before the conference title matchup, he had not made more than one 3-pointer in a game since Jan. 27. But his outburst did not surprise Brooklyn head coach Rich Micallef.
“He’s been really coming on,” Micallef said in a postgame interview on Feb. 26. “Egzon and Lorenzo, they draw so much attention, he just spots up and shoots.”
Micallef noted that McIllhatton suffered an ankle injury in Brooklyn’s first scrimmage last season, which limited his effectiveness in the 15 games in which he played. McIllhatton averaged just 3.5 minutes per game.
“He never got into the flow, and then he was out of the rotation,” Micallef said. “So last year was kind of a lost year for him.”
McIllhatton has come a long way, and not just in terms of basketball. He literally came a very long way to Brooklyn, all the way from Australia.
“I always wanted to come play basketball in America, as long as I could do what I academically wanted to do as well,” McIllhatton, an exercise science major, said in a telephone interview on Monday. “So it was a pretty good fit for me.”
He said that he had emailed and spoken on the phone with a former Brooklyn assistant coach, Brian Shea, before attending the school. But McIllhatton did not know anyone else at Brooklyn when he arrived.
Growing up, McIllhatton moved within Australia when his parents, both teachers, took new jobs, he said.
“I’ve been used to sort of moving around a lot,” McIllhatton said. “Obviously this is on a bigger scale, but once I got settled at the dorm, it was pretty easy from there.”
McIllhatton also had to adjust to a higher level of competition. The athleticism and height of the players, he said, made shooting over them more difficult.
He had some preparation for the level of play in the United States, he said, from facing Dante Exum in Australia. Exum, a guard for the Utah Jazz, was the fifth overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft.
McIllhatton first played against Exum when he was 15 and Exum was 14, he said. McIllhatton was playing for the New South Wales Country U16 team at the time.
“He was a skinny 14-year-old boy, but he was still really taking it to everyone,” McIllhatton said of Exum. “He was just miles ahead of everyone in terms of skill and ability.”
Despite McIllhatton’s smooth shooting, offense is not his main focus heading into the NCAA Tournament, he said. He’s not looking to be a superstar. Against NYU on Friday, he just wants to do what is best for his team.
“Obviously I’ll take the open shots,” he said. “I’ll stay within my game. I’m not going to try and do anything that’s outside my game just because it’s on a higher scale. Everyone has to play defense, so I’m going to make that my first priority, to make sure I’m in the right spots, at the right times, and that I’ve got my hands up, and that I’m talking, and just to make sure that my defense is a priority for me.”
Elsewhere around the region
In NJAC women’s basketball, Montclair State won its fourth straight conference title with a 68-62 win over Rowan. The two teams had split their regular-season meetings. Montclair State, Rowan, and Stockton all made the NCAA Tournament. … The CUNYAC men’s champion (Brooklyn) and women’s champion (Lehman) both face NYU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, though neither game will be played in New York. … Brooklyn senior Lorenzo Williams reached 1000 career points in the CUNYAC championship win over Baruch.
