By Aaron Johnson (@voz_aaron1) – Managing Editor | Sophomore guard Latrell Davis goes up for a layup in San Jose State’s 67-58 win over Wyoming on Jan. 25. (photo by Denim Bragg – Freelance Photographer)
Sophomore guard Latrell Davis has now posted career-highs in points in back-to-back games.
Davis put up 22 points in SJSU’s 67-58 win against Wyoming, which was a career-high until he topped it 3 days later with 23 points in SJSU’s 71-68 loss to San Diego State.
Davis has carved out a role for himself as one of the top scorers while being the team’s sixth man.
“This is the first time of me coming off the bench and having an impact,” Davis said. “I just got to look at things differently. I think that’s why I’ve grown as an individual, I just take it as an opportunity to showcase my time.”
Davis posted back-to-back 20 point games for the second time this season and he has scored 20 points or more five times.
“I feel like I bring a spark from the bench,” Davis said. “Obviously it’s everyone’s dream to start, but I contribute a lot from the bench and play a lot of minutes too.”
Davis has played 20 or more minutes in 14 of the games this season including many big-time minutes as he hit the game winning shot in SJSU’s big upset win against New Mexico.
“(Davis) has been playing phenomenal right now,” senior guard Josh Uduje said. “It makes it that much more difficult to guard us given that we have someone capable of going for 20 points off of the bench.”
San Jose State is third in the Mountain West in points per game with 74.3 as of Jan. 31.
Davis plays a very physical brand of basketball which features a lot of fast break buckets on hard drives to the rim. Davis also has a knack to get to draw fouls and get to the free-throw line.
“He is a one-man wrecking crew in transition,” head coach Tim Miles said. “I told him if you see two or three chests, you should probably stop. But if you only see one, keep going, what the hell.”
Recently, he has expanded his game showcasing his ability to shoot the deep ball going 3-4 from 3-point range against Wyoming and 5-7 from deep against San Diego State.
Davis contributed one-third of San Jose State’s 15 made shots from deep which was the most threes ever allowed by San Diego State in a Mountain West game.
“I’ve worked with Coach Strohm and the team managers on my shot so they can’t just take one thing away from me,” Davis said.
Davis announced via his Instagram Monday that he has signed with SAI Sports Management, a agency that specializes in professional athletes according to their website.
“They reached out to me in the summer while I was playing for my national team,” Davis said. “They are willing to help me out money wise and stuff like that. They said they know people in the San Jose area that could help me with endorsements.”
This season Davis has taken advantage of his opportunity on and off the court.
“I know what I’m capable of, it’s just getting the opportunity to do that,” Davis said. “You can’t coach effort so that’s why I’m trying to go in there and bring effort and energy.”