Three Newcomers to Join Husker Basketball Program

Lincoln --- Three standout junior college players have signed National Letters of Intent to join the Huskers, Nebraska coach Doc Sadler announced Wednesday. Guards Lance Jeter and Myles Holley and forward Quincy Hankins will attend the University and play for the Huskers starting in the 2009-10 season.

 

“Lance, Quincy and Myles are excited to join our program and we’re definitely excited to have them,” Sadler said. “Each of them will bring something to the table that we need next year at their positions. Just as important, they’ll have some experience and maturity both on and off the court. We’ll still be a young team next year, but we feel like they will be able to help us right from the start.”

 

Both Jeter and Hankins were ranked among the top 50 junior college players this season by Rivals.com. Hankins was rated the No. 42 junior college player in the country while Jeter was listed at No. 50 on the 2009 JucoJunction.com Top 150.

 

Together, they helped Polk and coach Matt Furjanic to a 26-6 record this past season, including a perfect 12-0 mark in the Suncoast Conference standings. The duo pushed Polk as it ranked second in the region in scoring defense by allowing just 60.5 points per game last year. Polk averaged 73.6 points per contest on offense.  Over their two years, Polk won two regular-season conference championships while compiling a 49-12 record.

 

The teammates will come to Lincoln later this summer from Polk CC, the same junior college that produced former Husker Marcus Neal Jr. Following his college career, Neal, a native of Baltimore, Md., played professionally in the Dominican Republic before returning to Nebraska to finish his undergraduate degree during the summer of 2007 under Sadler’s guidance.

 

Jeter and Hankins join the Huskers after two years playing at a junior college. They will each have two years of eligibility remaining while Holley, a prep standout in Virginia who has played one year of JUCO ball, will enter Nebraska with three years remaining to play for the Huskers.

 

The trio joins high schoolers Brandon Ubel (Kansas City, Mo.), Rayes Gallegos (Salt Lake City, Utah) and Christian Standhardinger (Berlin, Germany) in this year’s signing class.

 

Among the career highlights for the three newest Huskers are:

 

Lance Jeter, G, 6-2, 230, Beaver Falls, Pa. (Beaver Falls/Cincinnati/Polk (Fla.) CC)
Jeter was named an honorable-mention All-American by the coaches in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) following the 2009 season. He was also the Florida Community College Activities Association (FCCAA) Player of the Year and was an All-FCCAA first-team member as a sophomore. The FCCAA is made up of four junior college conferences throughout the state of Florida.

 

Last year, Jeter averaged 15.9 points, 5.7 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 2.0 steals per game as a sophomore. He was among the top 20 in the region in scoring (20th), assists (15th) and steals (13th) and was named the FCCAA Player of the Week on Jan. 14 as he helped the Vikings start the defense of their league title. Jeter averaged 22.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.5 steals that week in a pair of victories while hitting 48.6 percent (17-of-35) from the floor and 72.7 percent (8-of-11) from the line.

 

A native of Beaver Falls, Pa., Jeter averaged 16.3 points, 5.8 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game as a freshman at Polk. Before attending Polk, he spent one year as a scholarship wide receiver on the football team at Cincinnati where he redshirted.

 

At Beaver Falls High School, Jeter was a first-team all-state honoree in both football and basketball, earning the honor as both a junior and senior on the hardwood. He led the team with 20.4 points per game as a senior when Beaver Falls went 27-5 and won the Class AA state title in 2005. During his career he posted 2,243 career points as a four-year starter while helping Beaver Falls to a 102-19 record, and was twice named to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Fab-5 as one of the top five players in Western Pennsylvania. On the gridiron, he recorded 50 receptions for 810 yards and 15 touchdowns as a senior.  He was selected to play in the prestigious Big 33 Football Classic and was the Joe Namath Award winner as the team’s top football player.

 

Quincy Hankins, F, 6-8, 240, Long Island, N.Y. (Roosevelt/Polk (Fla.) CC)
Hankins was a formidable post presence for the Polk Vikings as he averaged 15.8 points, 12.3 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game as a sophomore. For his efforts, Hankins was named to the All-Suncoast Conference first-team and also earned all-state honors as a first-team All-FCCAA selection while helping Polk to a 26-6 record this year.

 

Hankins hit a team-best 53 percent from the floor as he knocked down 167-of-314 shots in 2008-09. His percentage was 16th in the region, among the four major statistical categories he ranked in the region’s top 30 (also scoring, 20th; rebounding second; steals, 27th) as a sophomore.

 

It was the second straight season Hankins led the squad in field-goal percentage, as he hit 58 percent (126-of-216) from the floor as a freshman. As a freshman, Hankins averaged 11.2 points and 8.3 rebounds per game in his first season at Polk.

 

Last year, Hankins also earned a nod as the FCCAA Player of the Week alongside Jeter. Hankins picked up the honor after averaging 24.0 points and 10.0 rebounds in a pair of contests. He posted 24 points, eight boards and three steals in a win over Hillsborough, ranked No. 6 in the region, and finished the week hitting 59.0 percent (13-of-22) from the floor and 78.6 percent (22-of-28) at the charity stripe.

 

In high school, Hankins was one of the top post players on Long Island as he was an all-county Class A first-team selection as a senior. Hankins averaged nearly 19 points per game on the basketball court in his final year at Roosevelt, including at least seven 25-plus point contests. He had one four-game stretch where he averaged 28 points and 15 rebounds, including a 31-point, 14-rebound effort in a victory over Westbury. He was selected to play in the Nassau Senior All-Star Game following his senior season and won the slam dunk contest.

 

Hankins, who was just 16 years old when he graduated high school in 2007, also played football and ran track at Roosevelt. He helped the football squad to the Long Island Class IV title as senior when he played wide receiver and quarterback.

 

Myles Holley, G, 6-5, 195, Norfolk, Va. (Booker T. Washington/Brunswick (N.C.) CC/Heat Academy)
Holley played high school basketball at Booker T. Washington in Norfolk, Va., helping the Bookers to the 2006 Group AAA state championship as a junior in 2006 while averaging 15.1 points per game. That season was the first of two consecutive years (2006 and 2007) that he was named a first-team all-state player in Virginia.

 

As a senior, he helped Washington to a 21-6 record and another state playoff appearance. On the year, he averaged 16.7 points, 7.4 rebounds per game, helping him earn 2007 Eastern District, Eastern Region and All-Tidewater Player-of-the-Year honors following his final campaign.  In the postseason, his averages rose dramatically, as he averaged 24.6 points, 13.5 rebounds and nearly four blocked shots per game in the playoffs for coach Darren Sanderlin, including two games of 34 or more points in the playoffs.

 

Following his high school career, Holley played his first collegiate season at Brunswick (N.C.) Community College. He helped the team to a school-record total for wins in 2007-08, finishing the year with a 28-5 record. On the season, he averaged 13.2 points and 9.5 rebounds per game. His averages were the 11th and fourth-best totals in school history, respectively. He hit an impressive 59.0 percent from the floor, connecting on 164-of-278 field-goal attempts, with only nine shots (two made) from beyond the arc.

 

Holley will come to Nebraska this summer after spending the past year playing with the Heat Academy in Martinsville, Va., under coach Jason Niblett, Holley helped the program to a 36-6 overall record while averaging nearly 20 points and eight rebounds per game.