Darren White's freshman season ending on positive note

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RICHMOND — For James Madison’s Darren White, it finally clicked. And he knew it.

The former Dan River standout beamed a smile in the locker room of the Richmond Coliseum Friday night so bright that it was probably brighter than the lights in the room.

It wasn’t his offensive production of five points and two rebounds against Drexel that had him grinning from ear to ear.

The real reason was when his hard work was rewarded early in the second half after he committed his fourth foul. Instead of bringing him to the bench, JMU coach Matt Brady chose to keep White in the game — because of his defense.

“In high school, I played terrible defense,” White said. “To jump from high school playing terrible defense to playing pretty good defense in college, it’s a real big jump. I’m proud of myself in that aspect. I just wanted to help my team and that’s where I could.

The Danville native did not commit another foul while contributing solid defense in the 11th-seeded Dukes’ 77-65 upset of the sixth-seeded Dragons in the first round of the Virginia 529 College Savings Plan Colonial Athletic Association Men's Basketball Tournament Friday night at the Richmond Coliseum.

“We came out with a lot of energy and that helped out with the jitters,” White said. “When I came on, everybody was full of energy and just playing defense. I just locked up (on defense). I wasn’t worrying about the offense or anything (and) I just locked up. There’s no need to be nervous to lock up somebody.”

White kept his cool on the defensive end against Drexel in a game that seemed to feature about as many potholes as there are on the Interstates in and around the metro Richmond area. A CAA Tournament record 55 fouls were called and the teams combined to shoot a staggering 73 free throws.

The 6-foot-3 guard’s defensive intensity was the same after he picked up his fourth foul as it was when he first came off the bench early in the first half. He took full advantage of the Dukes’ team defense when he saw Ben Louis grab a rebound midway through the first half, as White broke toward the other end of the court and received the perfect pass for an uncontested breakaway dunk.

“There were some bumps down the road, but I found a way to contribute to my team the way my team needs it,” White said. “Now we’re winning, so I’m going to keep doing what I have to do.”

Those bumps in the road were White realizing that it wasn’t all about scoring. He got off to an exceptional start to his college career, starting 20 of the Dukes’ first 23 games. He poured in 20 or more points in three of those games, including a career-high 22 points at Gardner-Webb.

His perimeter shooting, which he, as a senior at Dan River, said would improve under Brady, actually got better. He hit 35 3-pointers, which rank as the fourth most in a season for a JMU freshman.

“I think he’s more comfortable with his role giving us energy off the bench,” fellow freshman Trevon Flores said.

White also ranks second on the team in offensive rebounds.

“You never really know with Darren what you’re going to get, but I was really pleased with how hard he played and how in tune he was to the defensive game plan,” Brady said. “He kept sliding and rotating to the right places, which, it’s just taken him a while to figure it out how hard you got to play at this level and really how good these guys are you’re playing against. Tonight, for a night, he was good.”

Despite his offensive numbers falling off following his strong start to the season, White was named to the CAA all-rookie team late Thursday evening after averaging 8.9 points and 4.1 rebounds during the regular season. He scored in double figures 12 times and was named CAA rookie of the week once and shared the honor one other time.

“It’s an honor. There a lot of rookies who played good and they didn’t get it,” White said. “I could name a few rookies right now who could have easily made it, so it’s a great honor to be one of the best of them.”

White’s offensive numbers are some of the best among CAA rookies, but it is the defensive end where Brady, and now White, feel he can make the biggest contributions. Brady has acknowledged White has all the offensive tools to be one of the best players in the CAA sooner rather than later.

“When we recruited him, we thought we had a guy who could be one of the better defensive players at his position in the league,” Brady said. “While it has taken him a while longer than we hoped, he’s certainly playing really good defense now at this time of year, so it’s a real positive for him and for us.”