Whitlock Working Off Court, Too

“I was living the life of a superstar back in high school. My name was always in the paper. I was on the go all the time. I was popular. I didn’t need classes. I managed to just get by with everything.” --Tes Whitlock

Tes Whitlock came to Arizona State a year ago ready to play basketball but unprepared to deal with anything that wasn’t a zone defense or a half-court trap.

Sure, he could shoot the rock, dribble behind his back and keep the scoreboard racking up points like a pinball machine.

Nothing else really mattered, right?

College life, or at least academics, just didn’t seem to fit into Whitlock’s schedule as a freshman. He figured because it was that way at Loara High School, college wouldn’t be any different.

But it was. Whitlock struggled with a 2.1 grade-point average during his first semester at Arizona State.

He was ready to make it his last.

“Coach (Bill) Frieder and I were in his office, talking about my release,” said Whitlock, a 6-foot-2 shooting guard. “I wanted to drop out, maybe try a junior college. Division I just wasn’t for me.”

Frieder tried to change Whitlock’s mind, before reluctantly agreeing to let the Proposition 48 freshman transfer.

Whitlock was ready to leave the office when Frieder’s wife, Janice, stopped by.

She had invested too much time in Whitlock to let him quit and feel sorry for himself.

She had tutored him during his tough first semester. She told him they would work harder during the second semester. Quitting, she told him, was out of the question.

“She told me to hang in there and make it happen,” Whitlock said. “I had to be stronger in my work ethic.”

Whitlock agreed.

Now, a year later, he’s averaging seven points as a part-time starter for the Sun Devils, who are off to a 5-1 start despite losing seven players to injuries, transfers and expulsions in the past year.

Whitlock nearly made it eight players.

“I had my ups and downs,” he said. “It was an emotional year. I couldn’t practice. I couldn’t eat at the training table. My only involvement was playing pickup games on the weekends with the guys.”

His weekdays were filled with classes and study hall. Five nights a week, he reported to Janice Frieder for library study sessions that sometimes lasted two or three hours. There was a lot of work to do, some bad habits for Whitlock to break.

“That was real tough on me,” he said. “Coming out of high school, I didn’t have any study habits.”

At Loara, he regularly skipped classes and study sessions. He twice failed to reach the minimum 700 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test and didn’t pass enough core classes to be eligible as a freshman. He barely graduated from high school.

“It was me,” Whitlock said. “Put all the blame on me. People at Loara tried to help me. I wouldn’t listen.

“I just wanted to get through. But I found out the hard way, that it ain’t the way it goes.”

Or that it is not the way it goes, as Whitlock learned in his English class. Physical science, botany, geography and pop music--Arizona State’s version of “jock rock”--also have been on his class schedule.

With Janice’s help, he maintained a B average during the second semester, bringing his overall grade-point average to a 2.5.

“For the first time,” he said. “I have had to be a student.”

Developing study habits was tough for Whitlock, but watching the Sun Devils play without him was even tougher.

“I went to the Midnight Madness (preseason practice) and watched as they introduced all the guys to the crowd,” he said. “Here I was, in the stands. It hit me so hard, I felt like crying.”

He stayed in shape, working out on his own and playing in pickup games at every opportunity.

“More than anything, I missed the competition,” he said. “It was the first time I’ve been out of competition since I was 3 years old.

“But it was good for me. It forced me to go to class. Janice got me through everything.”

Despite Whitlock’s academic problems in high school, a handful of colleges--Arizona State, Cal State Long Beach, Oklahoma and UCLA--showed some interest in him. Coaches knew Whitlock’s three-point shooting touch and ability to score at a record-setting pace would fit perfectly into any up-tempo offense.

He won the county scoring title his senior year by averaging 30-plus points a game. He scored 68 in a tournament game against Saddleback, breaking the county scoring record that had stood for 80 years. He remembers one game in which he scored 16 points--in three minutes.

Whitlock’s family wanted him to stay home and go to a junior college or to Cal State Long Beach.

“For some strange reason,” Whitlock said, “I wanted out of Anaheim.”

He took an unofficial visit to Oklahoma, but committed to Arizona State after a visit with Frieder.

“He made me believe,” Whitlock said. “He told me that if I went there as a Prop. 48, I wouldn’t regret it.”

As it turned out, Arizona State needed Whitlock as badly as he needed a place to play.

Whitlock’s role and playing time have increased because of the loss of seven players, part of a rash of injuries and suspensions that have hit the Sun Devil football and basketball programs in the last year.

The biggest losses were forward Jamal Faulkner (violating probation for credit card fraud) and star forward Mario Bennett, who tore a knee ligament in a pickup game and had to undergo reconstructive surgery, sidelining him the entire season.

That left Frieder with a group that local writers dubbed “The Bomb Squad,” a small lineup that launches three-pointers as though they were layups.

Whitlock figured this style of play would suit him just fine. Then he shot two for 17 from the field, including 16 missed three-pointers, during the team’s Midnight Madness scrimmage.

“The press counted me out,” he said. “They were questioning whether I had lost it. Truth is, I was trying too hard.

“I wanted to show everybody (8,000 fans attended) what I was all about. But I ended up fighting myself.”

In a later scrimmage, Whitlock settled down and scored 34 points, hitting 12 of 23 from the floor and six consecutive three-pointers.

The performance earned him a starting position in his first regular-season game. He scored a team-high 17 points in a loss to Brigham Young.

Fifteen of his 16 shots were from three-point range. He finished with four three-pointers and made his only two-point attempt, a layup.

Whitlock still has a tendency to play wild--he’s shooting only 25% from three-point range--but has been effective at times coming off the bench.

“There are a lot of good guards here,” Whitlock said. “I knew it would be tough coming off a Prop. 48 year and playing with guys like Stevin Smith, Ron Riley and Marcell Capers.

“Actually, after all that has happened, I’m surprised just to be playing.”