A star is formed
KC Shaw’s sophomore season at WSSU ended before noon in February in Baltimore, MD. After hoisting the Big House Gaines trophy as a freshman and winning ten games in a row to finish the regular season, Shaw was ready to feel that feeling again. Instead, he left the court in disbelief for what would be the last time in the red and white uniform.
This year his season ended a little after eight o’clock on a Wednesday night in March. A more chiseled and composed Shaw reflected on his rise from being left off the all-CIAA team to being all-MEAC a year later.
“Freshman year, winning the CIAA championship second year losing the first round and third, I’m in third year losing in the first round again,” Shaw said with the introspection of an experienced college player. “But I can definitely say I’ve matured more and become a better ballplayer with Coach Hill. You know, he trusted in me since day one when I got to Winston and we’ve been rocking since.”
That confidence was well-founded. Shaw’s averaged jumped from 10.8 points per game to 18 ppg from his sophomore to junior seasons. The 6’6 wing shot an efficient 45 percent from the field and also grabbed five rebounds per game.
“I think for KC, bringing him to Winston-Salem State as a freshman — we saw athletic ability. I think — over these two years — I thought he improved offensively. He did a lot of work over the summer. I got to be honest to say, I didn’t quite see this offense coming,” Hill said with a slight grin. “I thought he could get there, but I think, during the summer months and even once we started working out, I thought he was one of the ones that was really a gym rat early on. So…credit to him. What he’s done, over the summer, credit to him what he’s done during the year.”
Not only has Shaw’s game blossomed, but so has his role as a leader. As a freshman he often deferred to his talented teammates, which included current Indiana State guard Samage Teel, current NC Central point guard Issac Parson and former CIAA Player of The Year and current pro Jaylen Alston. But Thursday night, it was Shaw was vocal in the huddle with his teammates.
“That’s what I’ve been doing all year. The scouting report is heavy on me. So one thing my coach — Coach B — told me is always trust my guys,” Shaw said. “And so that was a big thing that I always did, which is just trust my guys and I told them in the huddle just have confidence. It don’t matter — just shoot. I believe in you.”
College basketball’s toughest rebuild?
Shaw wasn’t the only talented player for UMES in Hill’s first season. Georgia State transfer Evan Johnson was a solid find late for Hill, as he averaged 14 points this season and scored 22 points against Norfolk State. Johnson was a grad transfer, though, and his time at the HBCU has come to an end.
“With these two guys (Shaw and Johnson) they helped me out a lot. You know, got us out of some jams,” Hill said. “Just didn’t quite have enough to finish a lot of games. Some of that just newness to the league. All of the players are new to the league and all of us as as coaches were new to the league. So we’ll be better for it next year.”
Next year starts now for Hill and his staff. Climbing the MEAC ladder is going to take a sizable upgrade in talent with teams like Norfolk State and Howard consistently finding talented college basketball players year after year. Hill knows how to find talented players, too, and has a history of landing guys people might not think he could get. He says that having a chance to feel out the league has been helpful to he and his staff as he gets acclimated to his new HBCU conference.
“Personally, I got a chance to really feel the atmosphere of the league. Kind of see the tendencies of teams and coaches, what they like to do. A very talented league, bit more physical that I have that I thought, between the three, four and five, the guys are pretty strong, pretty physical. So that, that’ll change some things the way I do some recruiting.”
The key for Hill and UMES moving forward will be both recruiting and maintaining talent at a school that has basically been college basketball’s “No-Man’s Land” in its modern history.
Hill has a talented piece to build around in Shaw, as well as his younger brother. Kyrell Shaw averaged just under seven points per game as a true freshman, and had seven double-figure scoring games, including 21 points against Norfolk State earlier in the season. But keeping a player like KC Shaw in the age of the year-to-year transfer portal and NIL is no guarantee these days. It’s hard to keep a star as bright as Shaw a secret — even Princess Anne isn’t THAT off the grid.
Hill, of course, knows this too. Not that he’s going to let that deter him. The NCAA Division and conference may have changed, but Cleo Hill Jr.’s quiet confidence has not.
“We plan on recruiting, heavily,” Hill said confidently. “And, we’ll definitely be bouncing back next year.”
History says, don’t bet against him.
