March Madness Sweet 16/Elite Eight Prospect Review - Jordan Hawkins
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In a draft class with plenty of good 3-point shooters and NBA level floor spacers there is one that stands out above the rest, Connecticut sophomore guard, Jordan Hawkins.
It is easy to look at the box score numbers and question this statement but when you turn on the film you will see.
Hawkins is not standing on the perimeter waiting for wide open catch and shoot opportunities to come to him, not that teams would allow this to happen anyway considering they fully deny him all game long.
When you watch a UConn game this season you will see Hawkins sprinting in transition, relocating off the ball and wearing his defender down as he runs off screen after screen.
Now, it is one thing to be able to do this and another thing entirely to be able to then make the defense pay. Hawkins does that.
The Gaitherburg, MD product had a respectable, but modest, freshman season for the Huskies. He then put in the work this off season and has come back for his second year and doubled, or tripled, almost every statistical category.
The 6-foot-5 flamethrower is averaging just under 16 points per game on 38% from the 3-point line with over seven and a half attempts per game. If you don’t buy those numbers to project his shooting, he is also 88% from the free throw line this season on over three and a half attempts per game.
Are there areas for growth in Hawkins' game? Absolutely.
He can stand to put on some weight/strength that will allow him to be more versatile defensively and at times he can “look” a tad unengaged on that end of the court. With that said, when he is engaged and in a stance he can hold his own on the ball and is a very good off ball defender with his IQ and ability to navigate screens.
Offensively, the DeMatha Catholic High School alum just needs to continue to round out his all around game in terms of 2-point scoring and passing, which there are really good flashes of.
In the first weekend of the NCAA tournament Hawkins got off to slow first halves before exploding in the second, would that trend continue in the second weekend?
Game 1 vs Arkansas
Hawkins not only bucked the trend of the low scoring first halves from the first weekend of the tournament but did so by putting together his best NBA Draft prospect offensive performance of the season.
How could that be when Hawkins missed his first four 3-points, all in the first six minutes of the game? One, he was aggressive right from the opening tip and two, Hawkins still ended the first half with 10 points due to his aggressive mentality inside the arc.
Hawkins found his sweet shooting touch in the second half of this game, knocking down three 3-pointers, and ended with a game high 24 points. He was 3-of-4 inside the 3-point and a perfect 9-of-9 from the free throw line.
This performance was exactly what Hawkins needed on a stage like the NCAA tournament and playing against multiple other 2023 NBA Draft prospects.
Game 2 vs Gonzaga
Hawkins continued his hot shooting in another blow out victory for the Huskies on their way to making the Final Four next weekend.
While the 2-point finishing was not on the display like the Sweet 16 matchup against Arkansas, he finished the game with 20 points on 6-of-10 from behind the 3-point line and chipped in six rebounds.
In this game Hawkins showed what separates him from other shooters in college basketball and the NBA Draft, the movement shooting and sprinting off screens.
While the majority of the attention will always be on that elite skill, shooting, Hawkins again displayed in this game that he does have potential to be a two way player at the next level.
While he did not make any splash plays, he was solid all game long on the ball and particularly off the ball with his rotations.
With his performance in the NCAA tournament thus far, and especially with these two games, you could see Hawkins NBA Draft stock rising and you can’t help but wonder what two more performances like this, and an NCAA championship, would do for it.
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