When Temple Men’s Basketball played at the University of Central Florida on Jan. 5, there sat a six-foot 11-inch tall center on UCF’s bench. Although he wasn’t a starter, UCF head coach Johnny Dawkins thought the player had potential to play professional basketball someday.
That young man was Jamille Reynolds. The former three-star recruit from St. Petersburg, Florida, was skilled enough to be a key contributor for UCF if he could improve his conditioning.
“We called a couple of guys from UCF,” said sixth-year Temple assistant coach Jimmy Fenerty. “[Temple head coach Aaron McKie] talked to Johnny Dawkins and a couple of their assistants and they were like, ‘Yo, this kid’s a pro. He has all the tools, he’s just gotta get in good shape.’”
Fenerty had followed Reynolds since his high school days with plans to offer the center a scholarship to Temple, but he knew personal circumstances were going to keep Reynolds in Florida.
Reynolds averaged 4.1 points and 2.4 rebounds in 11 minutes per game in 45 games at UCF, prompting him to enter the transfer portal. When he entered the portal, Temple jumped at its second opportunity and ultimately beat out the University of South Carolina to land him.
“We thought freshman year, he was terrific,” Fenerty said. “Should’ve been an All-Freshman kid. We were sort of surprised when he didn’t play a lot with UCF last year.”
The 280-pounder has impressed Temple’s staff and his teammates since becoming an Owl. He’s displayed athleticism and scored from all three levels in practices, and competed in the three-point shootout at Cherry and White Night.
Good centers normally commit to schools known for having great centers. Temple isn’t one of those schools, so it hasn’t had a center with Reynolds’ talent in quite some time. It certainly hasn’t had one in Fenerty’s tenure at Temple according to him.
“I feel like he’s a generational talent,” said redshirt sophomore guard Damian Dunn. “We see him do stuff everyday in practice that I probably haven’t seen a big guy do ever in my life.”
Reynolds was well aware of Dunn and fellow preseason All-American Athletic Conference guard Khalif Battle while at UCF. He played Temple three times while at UCF, going 1-2 against the Owls. Averaging less than eight minutes per game against Temple, Reynolds was able to scout the team up close for about 96 minutes, allowing him to see how Temple’s perimeter players operate. While on the court, he saw Temple’s deficiency at the center position.
“It seemed like they got some really good guards, like, the best guards in the conference,” Reynolds said. “But they were missing that big piece, a big man in the paint. I feel like this was the best spot for me.”
Adjusting to Temple hasn’t been hard for Reynolds as the welcoming nature of the Owls’ program have helped to make the Florida native feel at home in North Philadelphia.
“It’s been great,” Reynolds said. “My teammates, they love playing with me. And my coaches, they gave me a bigger role than I did at my old school, so it’s a big adjustment.”
Since last season, McKie has emphasized that Temple did not have the interior he wanted, or needed, to be as good a team as possible. Former centers Jake Forrester and Arashma Parks weren’t up to par offensively, and Emmanuel Okpomo wasn’t in basketball shape for a good portion of the 2021-22 season.
The three combined to average 8 points and 7.6 rebounds per game in 2021-22. NCAA Tournament teams usually have one big man that averages those numbers by themselves.
“We feel like we got a guy in Jamille Reynolds who we can throw the ball inside to that hopefully can create some advantages for us,” McKie said. “He can play with his back to the basket. That’s something that we desperately needed on the offensive side.”
Temple has made it clear it’s tournament-or-bust this season. If that’s going to happen, Reynolds, along with University of Northern Colorado transfer Kur Jongkuch, must live up to the hype.
Reynolds helped Temple win two scrimmages against Georgetown University and Iona University, and he’ll need to carry that energy into the regular-season when the games actually count.
On a Temple team that feels it has what it takes to go dancing in March, Reynolds plans on contributing immediately.
“This is my third year now,” Reynolds said. “So I’m coming out of the gate firing.”
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