Jahmel Taylor eyeing larger role in Fresno State backcourt

It’s not just the goggles. Long before Jahmel Taylor, the Fresno State Bulldogs guard, started wearing prescription lenses on the basketball court he put up thousands of shots before and after practices and in the gym on his own to craft and fine-tune that release. That already was there, quick and clean.

But five games into this season, there is no question that improved vision, seeing the rim clearly inside and sometimes well outside the 3-point line, is making a difference in his game.

“It’s definitely helping,” he said. “I can see a lot better.”

The 6-foot junior, who started wearing goggles over the summer, has hit 16 of 28 shots from the 3-point line, a 57.1 percentage that is second in the Mountain West and tied for eighth in the nation. In five-plus seasons under coach Rodney Terry, only twice has a Bulldog made more 3-pointers in a five-game stretch: Kevin Olekaibe sank 20 in 2011 and Julien Lewis hit 18 last season.

In the Bulldogs’ last outing, a victory at Oregon State, Taylor sank four consecutive 3s to end the first half, including one from about 28 feet just before the clock hit triple zeros.

“I was ... far,” he said. “I saw Deshon (Taylor) pushing the ball and I was just trying to find an open gap in case he passed it and I saw him throw it.

“I saw where I was and I saw the time, so I just had to shoot it. But I made sure my feet were set and things like that, and I knocked it down.”

Last season, Taylor hit 41.4 percent of his 3-point shots (24 of 58), including some big ones down the stretch and in the conference tournament. But that ability and his versatility make him valuable for the Bulldogs, who on Wednesday host Menlo College at Save Mart Center.

“He made huge shots,” Terry said. “Go back to that Wyoming game. We don’t win if he doesn’t make some bombs. He made some huge shots on the road.

“He’s a guy that, when you can do that, and now we’ve asked him to take on some more ballhandling responsibilities, it’s big. We recruited him out of high school as a point guard and he became all of a sudden a straight shooter. But he was a point guard in high school, so we’ve asked him to take on some of those responsibilities a little more, and he will. He’s comfortable doing it and he has the stamina to do it.”

Taking that shot as well.

“It’s preparation, constantly working on my shot and things like that, making sure I’m ready so when the game comes, I’m not nervous about the shots that I take,” Taylor said. “I just have to prepare myself and hopefully it goes in.”

Et cetera – Terry on Wednesday will coach his 175th game at Fresno State. He is 88-86 and one victory from tying Bill Vandenburgh for sixth place on the school’s career wins list.

If the Bulldogs win 20 games this season, Terry would move to third, passing Vandenburgh (89 wins, 1954-60), Steve Cleveland (92, 2005-11), Harry Miller (93, 1960-65) and Jerry Tarkanian (104, 1995-2002). Boyd Grant has the most wins (194, 1977-86) and Ed Gregory follows (172, 1965-77).

▪ Menlo is 5-4 but taking a significant step up in competition. The Oaks have beaten Oregon Tech, Simpson, Multnomah, New Hope Christian College and UC Merced and lost to Eastern Oregon, Pacific Union, Cal State Maritime and Southern Oregon. They are led by Jared Wall, a 6-1 freshman guard averaging 14.2 points.　

▪ The Bulldogs had an assist on a season-high 71.4 percent of their baskets (15 of 21) in their win over Oregon State. When that figure has been at 60 percent or higher the past two-plus seasons, they are 12-1.

In that victory, Fresno State had an assist on its first basket, a 3-pointer by Taylor with an assist from Paul Watson at the 19:19 mark. The Bulldogs didn’t have another until 4:23 remained in the first half, but they had an assist on their final six baskets of the half and three of four to start the second half, going from trailing 21-12 to leading 36-32.

Said Terry: “We got into a rhythm offensively a little bit and got that thing going.”

This story was originally published November 29, 2016 at 6:13 PM with the headline "Jahmel Taylor eyeing larger role in Fresno State backcourt."