By Gary Fauber
Register-Herald Assistant Sports Editor
BECKLEY — Whatever happens for Hassan Whiteside in the future — all indications are that it will be big — he can thank Tyler Wilkerson for helping to show the way.
Wilkerson’s leadership and — oh, yeah — on-court ability have opened the door for Whiteside’s incredible college debut.
“He helped develop Hassan Whiteside,” Marshall coach Donnie Jones said. “He took Hassan under his wing over the summer, really gave him a workout and taught him how to work, and took personal pride in pushing him every day.”
The senior-freshman combination was duly rewarded Monday. Both Wilkerson and Whiteside were named to the All-Conference USA second team, an honor earned by leading the Thundering Herd to its best season in 10 years.
Wilkerson, a 6-foot-8, 240-pound Lexington, Ky., native, averages a team-best 13.9 points and grabs 7.2 rebounds per game.
Whiteside, meanwhile, has taken advantage of the attention afforded to Wilkerson to put together the top freshman performance in C-USA this season. The 7-foot forward from Gastonia, N.C., is just behind Wilkerson at 13.6 ppg and is second in the league at 9.2 rebounds per game.
“Those two together have fed off each other,” Jones said. “I’m just really happy for both of them, obviously, but especially for Tyler Wilkerson, having been here three years (under Jones) and being a senior and making the progress he has.”
Also on Monday, Whiteside was named by The Sporting News as a second-team freshman All-American. He was one of only three freshmen mid-major schools to be honored.
Whiteside has become a sensation, largely because of his shot-blocking ability. He has a league-record 168 blocks, easily outdistancing Tulsa’s Jerome Jordan, who has 77.
Whiteside has been projected as high as the No. 1 overall pick in next year’s NBA draft and could be a high lottery pick if he decides to declare after this season.
As big as the season has been for Whiteside, Jones is quick to credit Wilkerson not only for his development, but also the rise of the team itself. Marshall is 23-8, its best overall record since it went 21-9 in the 1999-2000 season. The Herd won 24 games in the 1987-88 season, when it last went to the National Invitation Tournament.
“(Wilkerson) committed himself in the summer to getting better,” Jones said. “He hit the weight room and took the role after losing (2009 senior) Markel Humphrey to being a leader of this basketball team.”
— E-mail: gfauber
@register-herald.com
