The first step is admitting you have a problem. And while freshman guard Jamal Lewis is young, he is still mature enough to do that.
Since the beginning of the new year, Lewis’ production has dropped significantly, especially on the offensive end. In the past five games, Lewis has scored a grand total of two points. He’s taken notice of this but still remains optimistic about his development.
“It happens; people go on stretches where they don’t perform as well,” Lewis explained. “You can’t hang your head. A lot of people have been telling me just to keep my head up and keep working, and that’s what I’ve been doing.”
Lewis’ recent performances have been especially frustrating, since at the end of December, it appeared he had begun to make huge strides in becoming a key player for the Quakers.
He was rewarded for his solid efforts in December with Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors after an overtime loss to Wagner. In that game, he put up an impressive 16 points, four assists and five boards.
“I’m just trying to get my rhythm back,” Lewis said. “I’ve been doing a lot of workouts and watching a lot of film [to get it back].”
During this recent stretch, other guards like Tony Hicks and Patrick Lucas-Perry have stepped up their games, leading coach Jerome Allen to re-examine Lewis’ spot in the starting lineup.
But Allen is not worried, and he still expects the same level of play from every one of his players, regardless of whether or not they are in the starting lineup.
“I think it’s a team sport and we [have] 15 guys,” Allen said. “You have an overall game plan but it applies to all the guys on the team. Whether it’s the starting five, or the next five, or the next five, everybody has a role and everybody has an assignment.”
Lewis has the same attitude toward his starting position as his coach.
“[Starting] doesn’t really make that big of a difference to me,” Lewis said. “I just have to keep doing what I’m doing, get people in positions to score. Take care of the ball and be a leader on the court.”
Despite his recent scoring struggles, Lewis has continued to do the other things that put him in the starting lineup at the beginning of the season. He works hard on the defensive end of the floor — he leads the team in steals by a wide margin — and is second on the team in assists.
With Fran Dougherty making his return to the squad from illness this weekend, Lewis expects the entire team to receive a big boost.
“As Fran comes back and he gets his rhythm back, that will be a lot of scoring and rebounding that we haven’t had,” Lewis said. “So that will take a lot of pressure off of Miles and all the other scorers, because Fran is a scorer. With them able to go out there and put points on the board that will put less pressure on Miles and hopefully that will give me more assists.”
While his recent outings have been subpar by his standards, Lewis is confident that his rough stretch will end soon enough.
“Hopefully, my time is coming.”
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