Against Hartford last Tuesday, Justin McFadden took the court with a fever that exceeded 102 degrees. Seems appropriate: He’s been on fire as of late.
The freshman forward poured in 13 points, pulled down six boards and dished out four assists while battling his illness. He slammed in an electrifying dunk when BU was down 16 points in the second half, infecting his team for a 17-2 run that nearly saw the Bearcats clinch their third straight win.
Hard to believe that when he came to BU (4-21, 3-7 America East) this season, he was pretty under the radar.
“Honestly, I thought that I was going to probably get 10 to 15 minutes a game and learn my freshman year, then be ready to come in and be part of a big role my sophomore year,” McFadden admitted.
But amidst all the adversity wreaked upon the program — the transfer, the injuries — McFadden was thrust into a starting role early on the nation’s youngest Division I team. He’s started 20 of 25 games, averaging 27.6 minutes a contest. He’s developed with the team and been integral to BU’s recent success, marked by three wins and three close losses in the past eight games.
“Things kind of changed, and I stepped up,” McFadden said. “I’m just ready for whatever the coaches thought should be thrown my way.”
Initially, that amounted to being a defensive specialist. McFadden was known as the tough guy who would absorb charges and provide some muscle work for the team, along with freshman center Bobby Ahearn. They’ve both done that: Perhaps the stat that can best measure the intangibles of staunch defenders, each has fouled out six times this season while keeping his opponent in check.
But McFadden has gone beyond just stifling his man. The 6-foot-6 wing player has recorded 12 blocks and 24 steals on the season, both good for second on the team.
“I’m a foundational player, and defense — for me — is the beginning foundation to get onto the court,” McFadden explained. “Once I kind of have a solid foundation on defense, I build on my offensive game and I think that’s what you’ve seen throughout the year.”
That’s certainly been the case, as McFadden’s role has flourished. With injuries to the team’s frontcourt, head coach Tommy Dempsey needed production, and McFadden delivered.
“Some of those guys have taken a step forward offensively out of necessity … the injuries have been tough and they’ve certainly affected us, but at the same time it’s also allowed some other guys to develop,” Dempsey said of both McFadden and Ahearn.
Evident of that are McFadden’s swelled numbers in conference play. He’s jumped up to averaging 8.3 points per contest from his season’s 7.2 mark, and is averaging 4.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists in that 10-game span. He’s also shooting 41 percent from deep on a team that lost its potency beyond the arc without big men Dusan Perovic and Nick Madray.
Numbers aside, McFadden helps to provide a much-needed spark for a team that tends to slip into shooting slumps mid-game. Asked to describe his role, the Pennsylvanian out of Lower Merion readily knew how to identify himself:
“I would say just being a spark plug energy wise. Sometimes the team needs a quick pick-me-up or some words to be said in the huddle or a great play to be made to get them started. And once we get started, it’s hard for us to stop.”
Of course, McFadden hasn’t been selfish, nor has any player on the team in the last few weeks. Whereas the early season was marked by dominant offensive performances from a single player, Dempsey has been proud to note that in the last few games, no player has taken more than 10 shots.
So when the team’s down and McFadden knows something needs to be done, he’s fine being a part of rather than the star of the play.
“When the ball comes my way, I need to make something happen,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be from myself — it can be for another teammate, but it has to be a scoring play.”
McFadden’s drive for and interest in basketball was no mistake. He’s been playing ball all his life, ever since his dad bought him a Fisher-Price hoop when he was nine months old.
“He made sure I was going to be a basketball player,” McFadden said of his father.
“I’ve always just been a basketball player in my mind ever since then, really. As far back as I can remember, and it’s grown,” he continued.
What’s kept him in the game, he said, are the relationships he’s formed.
“To play in front of your peers and represent your peers, that’s one of the best things for me. So I’m trying to also create those connections with the BU Zoo … and I try to talk to them as often as I can and create those connections here.”
That’s something he’s done since the beginning of the year, when he would attend home soccer games and sit with the Zoo. On multiple occasions, he ran down the bleachers with the Zoo flag — a tradition of the club when the team scores a goal.
Clearly a down-to-earth player, McFadden is aware that BU’s feasible goal for 2014-15 may not be the AE title. But for a team that’s changed its identity multiple times this season, growth and development are in the works, and that’s a step forward.
“I think the measure of success is to get going and to keep growing,” McFadden said. “I think at the beginning of the season it was kind of rough. We weren’t together, we weren’t playing well together. But now I think that we’re playing together, we have to just keep that going. We just have to get better every day.”