AUSTIN (KXAN) — Transferring to Texas was, in some ways, a full-circle moment for Jayson Kent.
The graduate transfer from Indiana State was born in Austin while his dad, also named Jason but spelled differently, was the head men’s basketball coach at Houston-Tillotson University. The family moved when Jason got the head coaching job at Chicago State in 2004.
Playing for the third program of his college career, Jayson is back in Austin. Even though he’s playing about half as much at Texas as he did with the Sycamores last season, he said he’s doing whatever it takes to help the team win.
“We have a lot of high-skill guys on the team, and we all want to be successful, but for me, I’m trying to find ways to impact winning,” he said. “Whatever my minutes are, I’m going to do whatever I can to leave an impact.”
Kent is averaging a little more than 16 minutes per game this season after about 30 last season at Indiana State, but in the past two games, he’s played 54 minutes combined. He logged 24 minutes against No. 2 Alabama, scoring a season-high 19 points on 6 of 9 shooting, and then played 30 against No. 15 Kentucky, scoring six points with eight rebounds in an 82-78 win.
He missed about a month of the season with a wrist injury and his extended minutes are coming when Arthur Kaluma’s knee is banged up. He said he’s starting to feel the most comfortable he’s felt in Rodney Terry’s offense.
“It was definitely an adjustment,” he said. “We had a passing big man at my old school (Indiana State’s Robbie Avila) and there was a lot more movement, so figuring out where I could cut and get my opportunities has been an adjustment.”
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Terry said Kent is at the point where his comfort level can allow him to “just go out and play.”
“It’s always hard for a first-year guy to come in and get comfortable,” Terry said. “It’s been difficult for him after getting off to a nice start, and then getting injured, it’s tough for him and us. He had to etch out his identity again when he came back.”
Kent was sidelined for most of the nonconference schedule with the injury. He said he started feeling fully recovered in mid-January and he’s “tapped into his faith” to help get him through adversity.
“I’m giving praise to Him and I’m letting Him take control,” he said. “He will never fail you.”
He began his career at Bradley, playing two seasons before he went to Indiana State for another two-year stint. His younger sister Janae is a sophomore at Texas A&M after transferring from Louisiana State and he said they helped each other out during the process.
“I’m like her little coach,” he said. “I have a tight bond with her. If I ever need to talk to someone, I can talk to her. I told her she needed to pick a spot that would benefit her and where she could be successful.”
He said they watch each other’s game film and break it down to help them get better.
As the Longhorns make a push to build their NCAA tournament resume, the win over the Wildcats was significant in the eyes of America’s NCAA bracket projector, Joe Lunardi on ESPN. He still has the Longhorns on the bubble, but the victory caused Lunardi to move them up a couple of spots on the No. 10 line to potentially face Saint Mary’s in the opening round.
ESPN Analytics has the chance of the Longhorns making the NCAA tournament at 65% as of Tuesday. The team is back in action Feb. 22 at South Carolina.
