How Jordan O'Neal's work ethic could lead Jackson State basketball to NCAA Tournament
Jackson State basketball forward Jordan O’Neal is 6-foot-7 and 200 pounds, but he plays bigger than his listed size.
O’Neal knows that playing in the Southwestern Athletic Conference is nothing but hard work.
Jackson State (4-9) opens SWAC play at home in the Lee E. Williams Athletic and Assembly Center at 2:30 p.m. Saturday against Alcorn State (1-12).
O’Neal and Jackson State coach Mo Williams have history together. Williams signed O’Neal out of Coahoma Community College when Williams was hired at Alabama State in 2021. They reunited this this season when O'Neal transferred before his senior season to play at Jackson State.
"His growth as a man has created the opportunity for him to become a really good player," Jackson State coach Mo Williams said about O'Neal. "He's having a career year, and that's just because he has developed as a man."
“We built a relationship and we both want the same thing, and that is to win," O'Neal said. "That’s it. Plus, that’s Mo Williams. There is no better opportunity.”
His offensive game is starting to take shape, O’Neal is the second-leading scorer on the team averaging 11 points per game. He scored 18 points against Missouri when the Tigers upset them 73-72 on the road on Nov. 19 and 16 points against Georgetown in a 88-81 loss Nov. 25.
In the CP3 HBCU Challenge, he scored 19 points against Howard in an 81-74 victory in the championship game and 24 points against North Carolina A&T in a 68-60 win. He was selected to the all-tournament team and the SWAC Impact Player of the Week.
“Being a senior in the SWAC, you just learn to work,” O’Neal said. “I mean nothing is going to be given to you, period, like in life. It just teaches you to give it your all and work every day.”
O’Neal plays a complete game and is second on the team in rebounds with 68, trailing Zeke Cook, who has 86.
“My key to rebounding is basically being a dog,” O’Neal said. “I just want it more than other teams. We got this motto: ‘Two dogs, one bone.’ And we just want it more.”
The one thing teams were able to do last year against the Tigers was to get to inside the paint, and get shots at the rim. Not this year. O’Neal leads the team in blocked shots with 14 and the SWAC in blocked shots average with 1.1 per game.
“I don’t plan on losing in conference,” O’Neal said. “I feel like each game we are getting better and better. This team is full of dogs, and we want it. It took us a minute to put it together, but I feel it.”
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O’Neal said playing their first 13 games on the road was "the tour." He said the thought of traveling so much used to bother him, but now, he sees it as an opportunity.
“Traveling is a blessing,” O’Neal said. “No matter what it is for you -- your job, your school -- Getting to see the world for free is a blessing. I take the opportunity that I have been given.”
O’Neal's goal this season is to make it to the NCAA Tournament and to play and graduate from an HBCU. He said not a lot of people can say that.
“Making it to the Tournament is everything,” O’Neal said. "As a kid, that is what I wanted to do, go to the March Madness tournament. To do that, that’s a blessing, that’s my biggest goal. I don’t care what I do. I don’t have to play in the game, but if we go to the tournament and we play in it, that’s my goal in life.”
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: This goal drives Jackson State basketball's Jordan O'Neal
