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Thursday, February 22, 2001
Islanders’ Best-Kept Secret
Team’s second-leading scorer Denmon isn’t into talkin’ trash
By Matt Young
Caller-Times

Michelle Christenson/Caller-Times

A&M-CC’s Lee Denmon III is the team’s second-highest scorer, a feat overshadowed by teammate Michael Hicks’ battle for nation’s leading scorer.

In this day and age of college basketball, Lee Denmon is a midrange jump shot. He's smooth, rare and often overlooked.
   Coincidentally, it's Denmon's deadly midrange jumper that makes him so smooth.
   When Denmon is introduced as Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's shooting guard, he makes sure his position is not a misnomer. From 20 feet out, Denmon's a shooter. From 15 feet, he's still a shooter. Denmon's not infatuated with the 3-point line. He's more infatuated with open jump shots. From anywhere on the court.
   "He has the ability to put the ball in the hole, period," A&M-Corpus Christi coach Ronnie Arrow said. "He's a great shooter. He can shoot the 3, but he also can pull up inside and knock down that shot, too."
   Killing them softly
   For the second straight season, Denmon is the Islanders' second-leading scorer. After pumping in 13.7 points per game and leading A&M-Corpus Christi in 3-pointers as a junior, Denmon is hovering in similar territory with 11.5 points per game.
   And those 3-pointers - a team-high 63 - are still flowing as naturally off his shooting stroke as his trademark "Know what I'm sayin'?" flows off the end of nearly every one of his sentences.
   But it's what happens after one of Denmon's jumpers nestles in the net that makes him so rare. There's no talking, no strutting; just a quick backpedal to get back in defensive position.
   "Ever since I've been playing, I've been the quiet, soft-spoken guy," Denmon said. "That's just the way I am. I like to show more with my playing than with my talking. There's a time to talk, and there's a time to keep your mouth shut and just step up and play ball. I prefer to just play ball most of the time."
   Denmon's preference to play the silent assassin role confounds most of his teammates, particularly his Islander shooting guard counterpart Armond Wainright, who more than makes up for Denmon's lack of on-court conversation.
   "I can't play without talking to somebody - the crowd, the other players, the other coach, somebody - but Lee's not like that," Wainright said. "He goes out and plays without saying a thing. Sometimes I wonder how he does it."
   While Denmon's silence baffles his teammates, for Arrow the silence is as refreshing as Denmon's ability to pull up and make the open 15-foot jumper instead of driving all the way to the hole for the fancier yet lower percentage play.
   "There's something to be said about playing a game and quietly taking care of your business," Arrow said. "It's great that a guy like Lee can go about his business and not worry about all the talking and everything else. There's nothing inflated or overdone about Lee."
   The anonymous scorer
   Yet, despite the consistent production, Denmon is still often overlooked. The lack of attention has nothing to do with Denmon's deficiencies and everything to do with teammate Michael Hicks.
   It's hard to see the limelight when you play in the shadows of the nation's second-leading scorer.
   "We have a lot of guys that are good players but don't get the attention they probably deserve, because Mike is such a good player," Arrow said. "Even without the attention, Lee just consistently keeps plugging away and has been a key player to this program these last two seasons."
   Although it's hard to imagine Denmon being upset about playing second fiddle to Hicks, there was a time when Denmon was the front man. In his second season at Los Angeles Southwest College, Denmon led the South Coast Conference with 22.3 points and 8.7 rebounds per game.
   "Oh yeah, Lee was our main man without a doubt," Los Angeles Southwest College coach Reggie Morris said. "He was scoring more than 20 a game, but you know what? He was still real low-key. He'd score 20, but he never did it in a flashy way where you'd really notice him.
   "The best compliment I can pay Lee is this: He played on the same team as my son, but the guy I missed most when they both graduated was Lee. That's just the type of person Lee is."
   Holding his own
   Although just about everything about Denmon is old-school, he does proudly bear one symbol representative of his younger generation - a fresh tattoo on his left bicep that states "God bless the child that can hold his own."
   It's something his father told him before he left their Inglewood, Calif., home to pursue his college hoop dreams. It's something that he thinks about daily.
   "I may be quiet and I may not be the most well-known player," Denmon said, "but I think I'm more than holding my own, know what I'm sayin'?"

Staff writer Matt Young can be reached at 886-3702 or by e-mail at youngm@caller.com

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