Freshman Noah Locke does not lack for confidence and has had much to clap his hands about, whether shooting the basketball or playing defense during his rookie UF season.
Locke(d) In: Noah Arcing on Elite Freshman Season
Friday, February 1, 2019 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The first time Florida assistant coaches Darris Nichols and Jordan Mincy set eyes on their future shooting guard was the summer of 2016. It was July, meaning late in the grind of the AAU season, meaning some really good prospects were eager for the dog-and-pony traveling all-star show to come to an end and give way to a few weeks of chilling out before heading back to school.
Nichols and Mincy were watching Team Melo, out of Baltimore, play in its age-group championship game. The two had heard about rising junior Noah Locke and his deadly stroke, but they didn't see it that day. Locke was off, way off, and Team Melo lost.
Yet, the two UF coaches left the gym very much impressed. Not necessarily with the way the kid played or shot, but how Locke reacted postgame when he walked to his bench after the final buzzer sounded and kicked over a water cooler.
"He cared," Nichols said.
The dogged days of summer exposure had taken no more of a toll on Locke than his sharp-shooting, crossover-dribbling and dunking peers, but he battled to the final horn and the end result mattered to him. That was the takeaway Nichols and Mincy brought back to UF coach Mike White, as the Gators became aggressive suitors of the Maryland standout who went on to score 2,350 points at Owings Mills McDonogh School.
Now, Locke is scoring what figures to be a bunch of points for the Gators.
[Read senior writer Chris Harry's comprehensive "Pregame Stuff" preview here]
When UF (12-8, 4-3) lines up Saturday for its big Southeastern Conference showdown against No. 7 Kentucky (17-3, 6-1) at Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center, Locke will be in the starting lineup for the 17th straight game, having replaced fifth-year senior Jalen Hudson barely two weeks into the season. Locke had a run of nine straight games scoring in double figures, including a career-high 26 points in a win over Texas A&M last month when he became just the third freshman in UF history to hit at least seven 3-pointers in a game. After a tough afternoon at Texas Christian last weekend, Locke bounced back Wednesday with a team-best 22 points in Florida's overtime defeat of Ole Miss. He'll enter the UK game second on the team at 11.7 points per game, third in the conference with 57 makes from long distance and with a resume as impressive as any of the many McDonald's All-Americans on the Wildcats' bench at this point of the season.
Coachability and accountability. Noah Locke has both.
How 'bout that? In a rare turn of events, it'll be Florida, not Kentucky, starting three freshmen, none of whom came as hyped as the ones who will be wearing blue.
"These kinds of games are pretty much what I live to play for," Locke said. "This is just something I'm excited about."
Locke, in turn, is someone the entire UF program is excited about. He was not a five-star prospect, but he was recruited like one, ultimately choosing the Gators over Michigan, Ohio State, Providence and Xavier. He had no ties to Florida and received no guarantees relative to playing time. In fact, he was coming to a team that was returning its leading scorer in Hudson and a 1,200-point scorer in senior KeVaughn Allen on the perimeter.
All he's done is exceed expectations; maybe not his own, but certainly those of the Florida coaches.
"I told him during the recruiting process that it may be difficult for him to log a lot of minutes as a freshman, but we'll play guys that earn minutes," White said. "I didn't foresee him earning this much opportunity as a freshman. He's taken advantage. He's had a great year thus far. He's a tough kid. He's competitive. He makes shots. He's solid in a lot of areas, makes good decisions and he's accountable."
That last trait — accountability — can be the difference between a role player and a superstar. For some, it's a learned behavior. For others, like Locke, it's ingrained.
In the blood, actually.
His father, Kyle, played four seasons at Coppin State. So did Vanessa, his mother. Both went on to coach either college or high school teams, as well as Maryland club teams. Older brother Kayel scored 1,522 points at North Carolina-Greensboro and now plays professionally overseas. Noah broke Kayel's scoring record at McDonogh. Younger sister Paris, just an eighth-grader, is expected to score more than both her brothers when she gets to McDonogh.
The Locke children didn't grow up playing basketball. They lived and learned it through the eyes of two coaching parents.
"Basketball was our life. It was how we fed our family, so our kids understood the importance of what we were doing and having a coach in the family as a provider," Kyle Locke said. "So Noah is going to take very seriously and respect the position of the coach. He understands this is a business and that he must do what he's told with regards to the game. You have to be able to take instruction. That's really the gist of it. You respect the fact he's the coach and put all your faith in what he knows."
Because Locke has taken instruction (and criticism, when warranted) he has excelled on the floor by playing to his strengths, which aren't just limited to shooting. He knows how to get open and how to space the floor. He also is on task defensively and spills every ounce of energy on that end of the floor, sometimes to the point of exhaustion when he exits the game.
Clockwise from left: Noah Locke with Team Melo of Baltimore; father Kyle Locke in his Coppin state days; Noah in his youth club days; the basketball-standout Locke siblings, from left (Paris, Kayel and Noah).
In UF's 90-86 win over Ole Miss, Locke played 42 minutes, knocking down seven of his 13 shots, including six of 11 from the 3-point line. Defensively, as usual, he played at the top of Florida's effective 1-2-2 press, yet he had the legs at the end of the game to bury a huge 3-ball to start overtime and knock down two free throws with 11.2 seconds remaining to ice the game.
The fact he's the best pure shooter on the team — and best in the program since Michael Frazier II — is one thing. The fact that he's willing to take the big shots (and unafraid of missing them) is what takes his game to another, cold-blooded assassin's level.
"He's fearless," White said.
Maybe that was ingrained also, but Kyle Locke is quick to point out that his youngest son was not as naturally gifted as his oldest.
"Noah had to work for everything," father said of son. "What you see from him, he worked for it. He's a self-made player."
Locke didn't have a lot of local acclaim during his developmental years, but hours in the gym — before and after practices; before and after games — eventually got him there. He took losing to heart and used it as motivation. He did the same when he was bypassed during McDonald's and Jordan Brand all-star processes, the likes of which went to a handful of guys he'll be playing against Saturday.
"I felt I should've gotten it, but I don't need that to fuel my fire," Locke said. "I made it to college and I'm playing on the highest level I can play on right now."
He started the season coming off the bench and played no more than 15 minutes in any of UF's first three games, the last of which was a win over La Salle when Locke made one of four shots he took. When he left the O'Dome that night he was 5-for-17 on the season and barely breaking a sweat.
It just so happened Kyle Locke was in the house that night and saw a side of Noah that was new to him. It was clear, both verbally and non-verbally, that Noah wasn't happy with his early role as a Gator, despite being just three games into his college career.
Father and son had a very long talk that night.
"I don't want to say it was wake-up call, but I told him he had to plant his feet and let the process happen," Kyle said. "I reassured him — 'You belong here! You're good enough to play here!' — and told him, 'It's up to you!' This wasn't about any coaches or anybody else. He needed to man up and do what was necessary to get better."
CHARTING THE GATORS
Freshman shooting guard Noah Locke is soaring up the charts for 3-pointers made by a Florida freshman. With at least 12 more games to play, Locke figures to reset the season mark established 16 years ago.Note: Shooting percentages for player's respective years in parenthesis.
A week later, the Gators were in the Bahamas at the Battle 4 Atlantis. Locke came off the bench and hit a trio of 3s and played 23 hard minutes in a 65-60 loss to Oklahoma. Locke started the next day against Stanford, a 72-49 blowout win, and he's been starting ever since. He's shooting 41.3 percent from the floor, but 42.9 from the 3-point line. His 57 made 3s already is the seventh-most in UF history by a freshman, with at least 12 games remaining.
"Everything has fallen into place for me, I believe, because I've worked hard all my life," Locke said. "I'm going to keep working hard."
He's averaging 31.3 minutes in SEC play, which is third on the team, and speaks to the trust level he's built with the coaches.
"A very good player that is very accountable is hard to take out of the game," White said. "He does what we ask him to do. You know what you're getting from him every day and everyone enjoys coaching a guy like that."
Noah Locke, launching a shot here over 2018 SEC Player of the Year Grant Williams, is averaging 16.3 points and almost four 3-point makes per game in SEC play.
The Gators actually have a couple young guys like that. Freshman point guard Andrew Nembhard, a starter in all 20 games, has been a steady, unassuming playmaker, and alongside Locke, his roommate, the two have blossomed into tone-setters and leaders through sheer example.
If UF is to reach its potential this season, they'll be two of the biggest reasons.
"If we all just lock in and have that mentality of winning and listening to our coaches and understanding what it takes to win, we can change what's going on right here, right now," Locke said. "If we do that, I promise, people we say, 'Wow! Look what happened at Florida.' "
As good as Locke has been, there are times still when his coaches challenge him to show a little more because they know he's only scratching the surface of the player he can become. It's at these times when they send a text to Locke's cell phone.
It's a picture of a water cooler, accompanied by a simple message.
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