Re: Can't Stop Me | Story of Kendall Jenkins
March 7th, 2016 - Flu Game > Sprained Wrist Game
Two weeks ago Northern Colorado wrapped up with the regular season with a win in the season finale against Montana in a battle over the second seed in the conference. On the night, he seniors also celebrated their last appearance on the floor they’d been playing on over the past couple years of their college careers. The night had its share of emotions and Kendall could only watch from the bench due to his sprained wrist that had brought him great agony at the time.
Now it was time for the conference tournament and despite still having the symptoms from the injury there was no way in hell Kendall wasn’t going to play in this game against Eastern Washington. He argued with Coach Hill, who didn’t want him to risk another injury, for a good twenty minutes until he gave in and told Kendall he’d allow him to come off the bench against Eagles.
The team arrived at Walkup Skydome, being the biggest arena in the conference it was the obvious home for the tourney. The stadium had its full house cheer when both teams brought their players out. Kendall gazed at the surroundings, he knew if the team could pull it together and win this tournament they’d have an automatic bid in the NCAA Tournament, it was that easy.
“And now for your Northern Colorado basketball team!” The announcer shouted from the PA booth.
One section of the crowd booed while the other cheered and clapped. Kendall high fived his teammates as they jumped off the bench after their name was called, Kendall wasn’t very happy about not being a part of it.
The game started off rough; Kendall quickly lost hope when he saw his team down by six in the opening two minutes. Relief struck him however when things only got better when Tim knocked down two straight threes. This allowed the momentum of the arena to start drifting in the Bear’s favor but Eastern Washington responded and got a huge dunk at the other end which sent their fans insane.
Kendall looked at B.J. Hill with his eyebrows raised, he felt like a bench warmer waiting for his name to be called, that was something Kendall never had experienced in his entire life... The team was now down 16-17, Kendall watched as they showcased good ball movement with the ball landing into Cody’s hands for an open mid-range jumper.
18-17, Kendall got up and clapped for his team and once again looked at his coach waiting to get subbed in.
Still nothing.
Eastern Washington scored a three and took a 20-18 lead and the following offensive possession the Bears turned the ball over only for the Eagles to thankfully miss their three point attempt from the corner. Tevin pushed the ball to the other end and found Dominique open on the wing and he fired right away but the shot hit the back iron and fell #55’s hands.
Kendall looked over at an assistant coach and shook his head, “We’re playing like idiots.”
Eastern Washington earned a trip to the line and Kendall finally heard his name called.
“Go check in Kendall, be careful out there.”
Kendall came out and played the exact opposite, he was reckless, and during his first offensive possession he caught the ball at the short corner and drove it all the way in in what should’ve been an and-one.
He wanted this win.
A couple plays later Cody McDavis stepped up to the free throw line and knocked down the first *and the second hit the right side of the rim and Kendall skied up and grabbed a vicious rebound and put it right back up, this time he earned the and one. Chase gave him a huge shove and the crowd went wild! He connected with the free throw and the team now led 24-21. When Corey Spence came in off the bench and hit a 3 Eastern Washington was forced to call a timeout after the Bears had made their sudden run.
Sooner or later it was looking like an in-season repeat, N. Colorado had worked their way to a ten point lead in the 31-21 ball game, Kendall was playing like nothing ever happened!
Coach Hill eventually brought him back to the bench at the 4:30 mark in the first half after Kendall was seen tweaking with his wrist.
“Great job,” B.J. pats him on the back. “You didn’t fake that injury did you?” He laughs and looks back into the game where the Bears continue their success and eventually gets way ahead with the score at 40-28 with just over a minute remaining in the half. The press was absolutely destroying Eastern Washington… The game seemed just about over when the Bears went into the locker room with an 18 point lead.
Dominque was playing great as a fill in for Kendall with 13 points that tied with Cody but Kendall wanted back on the floor especially when Eastern Washington came out the locker room playing like there was no tomorrow, their point guard Drew Brandon was torturing Tevin on offense and had brought the team to a quick 13-2 run to open the half. The score was getting close at 50-43.
Coach Hill got a little impatient and looked over at Kendall on the bench, “Can you play?”
“Hell yeah I can play.” He jumped off the seat and went to the scorer’s table without even getting the word from coach.
Kendall entered in for Dominque and once again made a play that impacted the game. Eastern Washington’s #33 was clearly not a good dribblers but tried his hand at multiple moves to go around Kendall at the half court, he ended up stumbling by himself and Kendall recovered on the steal and finished with a posterizing dunk at the other end plus the foul. He’d go on to miss the free throw but the dunk got the team a 9 point lead that fired them up.
Kendall’s success only continued as he and Cody started to put the team on their back and revive their first half dominance as the scoreboard had them up 61-47. Kendall was once again put on the bench when the game seemed out of hand. Dominuque check in and the Eagles started making a push as Drew Brandon and Tyler Harvey made a huge push to bring their team back but time was not on their side.
Northern Colorado got the last cheer and defeated Eastern Washington 78-71.
Kendall was interviewed by a Fox News reporter after the game who asked, “Kendall, you played with a sprained wrist yet came off the bench and played one of the most efficient games in college basketball this season, 15 points, 10 rebounds! How does it feel and how’s your wrist?”
“Yeah, my wrist is cool, I might have stressed it a little but I’m not crying about it. My goal is to get to the NCAA tournament, we don’t got a good enough record so we’ll have to win this tourney, I’m determined – maybe the most determined player in the nation actually. We’re going to turn some heads.”
March 7th, 2016 - Flu Game > Sprained Wrist Game
Two weeks ago Northern Colorado wrapped up with the regular season with a win in the season finale against Montana in a battle over the second seed in the conference. On the night, he seniors also celebrated their last appearance on the floor they’d been playing on over the past couple years of their college careers. The night had its share of emotions and Kendall could only watch from the bench due to his sprained wrist that had brought him great agony at the time.
Now it was time for the conference tournament and despite still having the symptoms from the injury there was no way in hell Kendall wasn’t going to play in this game against Eastern Washington. He argued with Coach Hill, who didn’t want him to risk another injury, for a good twenty minutes until he gave in and told Kendall he’d allow him to come off the bench against Eagles.
The team arrived at Walkup Skydome, being the biggest arena in the conference it was the obvious home for the tourney. The stadium had its full house cheer when both teams brought their players out. Kendall gazed at the surroundings, he knew if the team could pull it together and win this tournament they’d have an automatic bid in the NCAA Tournament, it was that easy.
“And now for your Northern Colorado basketball team!” The announcer shouted from the PA booth.
One section of the crowd booed while the other cheered and clapped. Kendall high fived his teammates as they jumped off the bench after their name was called, Kendall wasn’t very happy about not being a part of it.
The game started off rough; Kendall quickly lost hope when he saw his team down by six in the opening two minutes. Relief struck him however when things only got better when Tim knocked down two straight threes. This allowed the momentum of the arena to start drifting in the Bear’s favor but Eastern Washington responded and got a huge dunk at the other end which sent their fans insane.
Kendall looked at B.J. Hill with his eyebrows raised, he felt like a bench warmer waiting for his name to be called, that was something Kendall never had experienced in his entire life... The team was now down 16-17, Kendall watched as they showcased good ball movement with the ball landing into Cody’s hands for an open mid-range jumper.
18-17, Kendall got up and clapped for his team and once again looked at his coach waiting to get subbed in.
Still nothing.
Eastern Washington scored a three and took a 20-18 lead and the following offensive possession the Bears turned the ball over only for the Eagles to thankfully miss their three point attempt from the corner. Tevin pushed the ball to the other end and found Dominique open on the wing and he fired right away but the shot hit the back iron and fell #55’s hands.
Kendall looked over at an assistant coach and shook his head, “We’re playing like idiots.”
Eastern Washington earned a trip to the line and Kendall finally heard his name called.
“Go check in Kendall, be careful out there.”
Kendall came out and played the exact opposite, he was reckless, and during his first offensive possession he caught the ball at the short corner and drove it all the way in in what should’ve been an and-one.
He wanted this win.
A couple plays later Cody McDavis stepped up to the free throw line and knocked down the first *and the second hit the right side of the rim and Kendall skied up and grabbed a vicious rebound and put it right back up, this time he earned the and one. Chase gave him a huge shove and the crowd went wild! He connected with the free throw and the team now led 24-21. When Corey Spence came in off the bench and hit a 3 Eastern Washington was forced to call a timeout after the Bears had made their sudden run.
Sooner or later it was looking like an in-season repeat, N. Colorado had worked their way to a ten point lead in the 31-21 ball game, Kendall was playing like nothing ever happened!
Coach Hill eventually brought him back to the bench at the 4:30 mark in the first half after Kendall was seen tweaking with his wrist.
“Great job,” B.J. pats him on the back. “You didn’t fake that injury did you?” He laughs and looks back into the game where the Bears continue their success and eventually gets way ahead with the score at 40-28 with just over a minute remaining in the half. The press was absolutely destroying Eastern Washington… The game seemed just about over when the Bears went into the locker room with an 18 point lead.
Dominque was playing great as a fill in for Kendall with 13 points that tied with Cody but Kendall wanted back on the floor especially when Eastern Washington came out the locker room playing like there was no tomorrow, their point guard Drew Brandon was torturing Tevin on offense and had brought the team to a quick 13-2 run to open the half. The score was getting close at 50-43.
Coach Hill got a little impatient and looked over at Kendall on the bench, “Can you play?”
“Hell yeah I can play.” He jumped off the seat and went to the scorer’s table without even getting the word from coach.
Kendall entered in for Dominque and once again made a play that impacted the game. Eastern Washington’s #33 was clearly not a good dribblers but tried his hand at multiple moves to go around Kendall at the half court, he ended up stumbling by himself and Kendall recovered on the steal and finished with a posterizing dunk at the other end plus the foul. He’d go on to miss the free throw but the dunk got the team a 9 point lead that fired them up.
Kendall’s success only continued as he and Cody started to put the team on their back and revive their first half dominance as the scoreboard had them up 61-47. Kendall was once again put on the bench when the game seemed out of hand. Dominuque check in and the Eagles started making a push as Drew Brandon and Tyler Harvey made a huge push to bring their team back but time was not on their side.
Northern Colorado got the last cheer and defeated Eastern Washington 78-71.
Kendall was interviewed by a Fox News reporter after the game who asked, “Kendall, you played with a sprained wrist yet came off the bench and played one of the most efficient games in college basketball this season, 15 points, 10 rebounds! How does it feel and how’s your wrist?”
“Yeah, my wrist is cool, I might have stressed it a little but I’m not crying about it. My goal is to get to the NCAA tournament, we don’t got a good enough record so we’ll have to win this tourney, I’m determined – maybe the most determined player in the nation actually. We’re going to turn some heads.”
came off the bench and played a key role in trouncing the Bears out of the game as he went lethal from beyond the arc, scoring 16 points [5-8 FG, 4-6 3PT] in under 15 minutes, people were curious as to why Kruger didn't grant him any more playing time after his hot start.
expected to be a possible NBA lottery pick, got in some early foul trouble as wasn't able to play as many minutes as usual but still put up 10 points plus 4 rebounds. Cousins added 11 and Jordan Woodard stuffed the sheet with 9 points, 9 assists, and 4 steals.
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