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Basketball season will be here before we know it. While the official season start date was moved back to November 25, teams all over the nation are already practicing and preparing for the most wonderful time of the year.
Here at Arkansas Fight, Ryan Bolding and myself will be previewing a different player each week and what to expect this season. Next up is Jalen Tate.
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#11 Jalen Tate – GR.SR. 6-6 175
Jalen Tate comes to Fayetteville after a great career at Northern Kentucky. The Norse won at least 22 games each year Tate played there. Jalen is accustomed to winning. That is all he has known in college. The guard has been awarded multiple times for his defensive play while at NKU.
Here are just a few of his accomplishments:
Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year
3x Horizon All-Defensive Team
All-Horizon League 3rd Team
Horizon League Tournament MVP
2x Horizon League All-Tournament Team
Now Tate has a bit of a reset. He will be playing high-major basketball and against much better athletes in the SEC. His defense is his bread and butter so it will be interesting to see how he transitions.
Many fans have drawn comparisons of Tate to Former Arkansas guard Jimmy Whitt. Tate doesn’t have Whitt’s speed, but has a lot more length than Whitt. He may not lockdown smaller, quicker defenders, but he will be very effective against the 6-4 to 6-6 shooting guards.
On offense, Tate got a lot of points slashing to the basket and using the mid-range. He has been up and down in his career as a 3 point shooter, but broke his hand last year which would have greatly affected his shot. In 2018-19, Jalen shot 40.7% from 3. If he can repeat that kind of success from 3 then he will see a lot of playing time.
Tate is another versatile defender on a versatile roster. The options for Eric Musselman remain virtually endless.
Thanks for reading!
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