By Joshua Manly
Though Larry Gordon won the California Collegiate Athletic
Association Freshman of the Year award last season, you won’t find
him riding high this season. You can find him on the court, up to
an hour after practice ends, shooting around trying to improve yet
again. Fighting through Division I defenses has not been a problem
for Gordon who is the team’s second leading scorer this season
after averaging 6.7 points per game. Gordon is no stranger to
putting away the points after his stellar high school career was
capped by his scoring more than 700 points in his final season, a
figure good enough for sixth overall in the southern section. While
it seemed that scouts from across the state would be visiting
Montclair High School, Gordon believes it was the size of the
school as well as the relative obscurity of the league that kept
them away. “Out of all the Division II schools that were recruiting
me Cal Poly definitely had the best program,” said Gordon. “I
thought, ‘That’s the type of program that I want to be in.’ There
were a lot of educational reasons too though, the name of Cal Poly
on a degree means something.” Gordon has had to adjust to a change
in role as well as a change in position during his award-winning
career at Cal Poly. Gordon, who primarily played forward in high
school has transitioned to being a guard for head coach Greg
Kamansky. Gordon has also brought his game to a new level by
becoming a three-point threat for the Broncos. “He is really hard
to define,” said coach Kamansky. “He is an inside/outside, he is a
threat in both situations which is what really makes him so good.
He is very athletic, always working on his strength and ball
handling and if that comes along I think he will become a really
exciting player.” Last year’s award came as a surprise to Gordon
who was just hoping to infuse NCAA experience in to his normal
game. “My first year was just a learning experience here, I just
wanted to learn how these guys played basketball as fast as
possible,” said Gordon. “After a while I started to get comfortable
with the other guys and started to get comfortable on the court.
Then I started to score the basketball at will just like in high
school.” Gordon’s biggest challenge at Cal Poly has been the
physical adjustment from the post position to guard. Standing at
6-feet-5-inches, Gordon is built to play a more agile position that
required him to raise both his stamina and muscle mass. “It’s
pretty difficult [to get my shooting game going] because [Coach
Kamansky] always says ‘Shoot, shoot, shoot’ and my mindset is to
get to the rack,” said Gordon. “It’s difficult to find open shots
in an offense that I am not used to; I am working on all of it.”
Off the court Gordon is always the one to come to practice with a
smile and a willingness to compete. He daily walks the line of a
student athlete trying to balance a class schedule next to a
regular season schedule. “Being a student athlete is really hard,
it’s just all around work,” said Gordon. “Sometimes you have class,
class, practice and then class again. But it is not harder than
people who have to work, you know? Basketball is my job.” In the
coming season Gordon wants to help the team in any way he can but
also has personal goals for himself such as becoming a shut down
guard on defense and making rebounding a more key element in his
game.
Joshua Manly can be reached at managingeditor@thepolypost.com or
by phone at (909) 869-3844.
Gordon Does Best to Find Open Shot
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