Growing up it wasn’t hard to know where Jordan McCabe was at anytime.
How? Well, it was pretty easy to pick out the kid dribbling the basketball basically anywhere and everything he went. Movie theaters, shopping malls and even to bed with him at times, where McCabe traveled his trusty basketball came right along beside him.
“Whether that’s weird or not, I don’t know but that’s just what I did,” he recalled.
But there was one rule.
“Mom just hated when I dribbled in the kitchen,” he said.
It’s no wonder that McCabe was able to develop his trademark handles and passing ability just given how attached to it he was from a small age.
It was a craft that was only further nurtured by his early interest and attention to detail in what another on-the-court wizard could do. That player was none other than Pete Maravich.
By the age of six, McCabe was introduced to Pistol Pete by his father and grandfather. He would spend time in his basement emulating what he saw on tape even attempting to hit a tinfoil plate positioned on his wall with a myriad of different passes.
“I’d flip on a DVD and I’d sit in front of it and just try to do what he did,” McCabe said.
That dedication first got McCabe an audience for what he could do with the basketball but he quickly looked to shed that image and become more than just a halftime act. He did that in the high school level emerging as a top notch prospect and capping things off by being named Mr. Basketball in the state of Wisconsin during his senior season by averaging 27.7 points and 7.8 assists per game.
McCabe also led Kaukauna to a state championship while scoring the final eight points of the game all while never losing his creativity with the ball in his hands or with his ability to distribute it.
“It’s just instincts. I see things happen real fast and when I make plays, I make plays,” he said.
There’s always an element of entertainment when watching McCabe handle the point but he’s also a refined student of the game in his own right. For example, upon arriving in Morgantown in June the freshman guard wasted little time becoming immersed in the film room.
McCabe, with an assist from James Long, learned how to sit down and break film down in order to better prepare him mentally for what he was going to see on the floor.
A very veteran move, for a very young player.
“Coming in my goal is to be one of the hardest workers, if not the hardest worker, in the country and that goes beyond the court. I heard that before I got to college that film study is going to be very big and an important thing to do so I jumped on that as soon as I could,” he said.
It was made easier however because of a one-track mind that he established all those years ago. McCabe wants to have success on the floor and isn’t letting distractions get in the way. Not even in his new surroundings in Morgantown as many freshmen typically deal with the challenges of being away from home for the first time.
“I fell into a routine that’s kind of my personality. I got here and just decided I’m going to put more time in than anybody else and once I figured out what I could do on a day to day basis I sort of forgot that I was 10 hours from home. And anytime I thought about being homesick I just told myself that this is home for the next couple years so might as well buy in,” he said.
McCabe believes that the coaches make learning the playbook easy once you get the grasp of it and while he’s still in the process of that, the freshman is making strides. The biggest adjustment so far is that windows close faster and there are fewer margins for error on each individual play.
Of course going up against Tarik Phillip at times during the summer can open eyes quickly on that front.
As part of that maturity beyond his years, McCabe understands his role as a distributor when he is called upon but also understands he can put the ball in the basket. It isn’t an either/or situation.
The end game for McCabe isn’t to be defined by one thing, instead to make those around him better. That means shedding the labels of pass-first or shoot-first at the position.
“I’m just a point guard and a point guard just tries to make the right play every time that doesn’t mean doing the same thing every time,” he said.
Just what type of impression as he made at the early stages of his career?
“He wants to play and he wants to win. He’s as dedicated a guy as we’ve ever had here,” head coach Bob Huggins said referring to the freshman as coachable.
McCabe has come a long way since those days as a kid in the basement, but don’t expect him to stop now with his eyes always set on improvement.
“The people that do know where I am know where to find me. Either I’m in the gym or my dorm room,” he said.
