Freshman Jamarques Lawrence's undeniable development has Huskers excited for the future
Legendary Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo has coached and faced as many impressive freshmen as anyone in the Big Ten Conference.
As he tried to recap the Spartans’ second-half comeback win at Nebraska on Tuesday night, the performance of one budding Husker stuck with him.
True freshman Jamarques Lawrence scored a career-high 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting against MSU. That included accounting for nine of NU’s first 17 points to help his team get off to a blazing start.
“The Lawrence kid is going to be a hell of a player,” Izzo said. “We couldn’t guard him.”
When Bandoumel went down, Lawrence stepped up
As much as Nebraska was reeling after blowing a 15-point lead on Senior Night, head coach Fred Hoiberg and his veteran players couldn’t help but praise Lawrence’s development.
The Plainfield, N.J., native had a minimal role in the rotation until senior Emmanuel Bandoumel went down at Penn State on Jan. 21. Before that game, he had averaged 10.1 minutes, 2.0 points, 1.0 rebounds, and 0.3 assists over his first 15 appearances.
Since replacing Bandoumel in the starting lineup vs. Northwestern on Jan. 25, though, Lawrence’s development has taken off. Over his last 10 starts, he’s averaging 8.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.7 assists over 27.7 minutes per game.
That includes scoring in double figures in five of those 10 starts, with Tuesday night’s career performance being the highlight.
Nebraska still has at least two more games remaining, and its postseason hopes are still alive despite Tuesday night’s setback.
But looking ahead to next season and beyond, Hoiberg said Lawrence would be a centerpiece of the Huskers’ lineup.
“The kid has a heck of a future,” Hoiberg said. “He’s one of the young guys that has really benefitted from the adversity that our team has faced. He’s taken great advantage of it and shown that he’s going to be a great player in this league and all the way through his future. Jamarques has got a heck of a career in front of him.”
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Lawrence has learned from NU’s leaders on and off the court
A significant part of Lawrence’s rapid rise this season has been the example he’s followed of Nebraska’s senior leaders.
Specifically, Hoiberg said learning from veterans like Bandoumel and Sam Griesel had been invaluable for the former Roselle Catholic standout.
“That’s going to benefit him greatly,” Hoiberg said. “We’re going to need him to be one of the leaders on this team next year when we lose Sam and Emmanuel and Derrick (Walker).
“Young guys are going to have to pick up the slack in that area. But Jamarques has learned from some great ones.”
Lawrence’s progress has been obvious, but few have had a better seat to watch his growth than Griesel. As he closes out his college career, Griesel can already see parallels between his and Lawrence’s paths.
“Jamarques is going to be a very, very good player here, and I think all of us can see that,” Griesel said. “He grows every single game, and I’m so proud of him. Just to get his confidence going at the end of the year – speaking from experience, I guess, my freshman year of college kind of had a similar thing. I felt like that kind of propelled me for my college career.
“Like I said, I’m really proud of Jamarques. He puts in a lot of work.”
