Jaemyn Brakefield's 'maturity' since coming to Ole Miss is being noticed on and off the court.
Jaemyn Brakefield is a changed man from a season ago, physically and mentally. The Ole Miss forward is finding his footing through the toughest part of the season schedule and thriving against conference opponents.
The new Brakefield is a credit to him changing his body — he is down 10 pounds from the 225 he was last year — and is approaching the game differently than he did his first season back in Mississippi.
When Brakefield transferred to Ole Miss by way of Duke, there may have been expectations placed on the Jackson, Miss. native that might be unfair. Though coming from a college basketball brand that is Duke, the pressure was going to be there whether Brakefield wanted it or not.
“I wouldn’t say pressure. I just feel like I didn’t come in with the same mindset that I have this year,” Brakefield said. Obviously, I still had to grow and I was still pretty young. But really just going through that year it helped me continue to develop. Obviously, after this year I’m still going to grow and be a better player next year. Just year by year and day by day.”
When the schedule flipped from non-conference to Southeastern Conference there has been a switch that flipped within Brakefield.
The junior averaged 7.6 points per game in the 12 non-conference game and hit double figures in only four of those games. In the first six SEC game Brakefield is averaging 11.5 points per game and scored in double figures in the first four games.
When conference play rolls around the stat line usually comes back down after strong play against traditionally weaker opponents. For Brakefield the stat line has increased as the schedule and opponents have gotten tougher.
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“Really just maturing,” Brakefield said. “We had that little break for Christmas so I really just tried to use that to continue to develop and try to come back even stronger for my team and that’s what I try to do. We’re trying to get a win each and every night we go out there so I’m just trying to do anything possible.”
Maturity is a major attribute that Ole Miss head coach Kermit Davis has even noticed within Brakefield. One example is of a photo that surfaced on social media of Brakefield visiting with a student at a local Oxford elementary school.
Brakefield said he met the student, who is in third grade, while shopping at WalMart and relealized the kid needed a mentor and a ‘big brother’ to look up to. He visited the student at lunch and was then asked to come back later in the day to play during recess. Brakefield obliged.
“Let me tell you what that says about (Brakefield). He did that on his own. Had nothing to do with Ole Miss,” Davis said. “He’s mentoring a kid there, on his own, I don’t even know he’s there. Then my wife sees the lady who works at Della Davidison, my daughter works there, too, and says they want to do a Jaemyn Brakefield day at their school. That’s how much they like him. Has nothing to do, we have a lot of great community service. That’s just Jaemyn being Jaemyn. When nobody’s watching. He didn’t want anything out of it. That’s who he is.”
Watch Brakefield’s full press conference from Friday below. Video courtesy of Ole Miss Sports Productions.
