UTC's Jean-Baptiste joining Haitian national basketball team

In this Feb. 17, 2018, staff file photo, UTC head coach Lamont Paris instructs David Jean-Baptiste (3).
In this Feb. 17, 2018, staff file photo, UTC head coach Lamont Paris instructs David Jean-Baptiste (3).

Back in November, David Jean-Baptiste received an email that he considered spam. He nearly deleted it.

He's glad he didn't.

photo Photo by Bryant Hawkins / University of Tennessee Chattanooga's David Jean-Baptiste (3) takes a shot against UT Martin's Terrence Parker (5) on Saturday. The Chattanooga Mocs took on the UT Martin Skyhawks at McKenzie Arena in Chattanooga, Tenn. on Saturday Dec. 2, 2017.

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga guard, who will be entering his third year at the school and second as an active member of the basketball team, has been given an opportunity to help resurrect the Haitian national team, which will be participating in the Caribbean Cup.

Although he was born in Miami, both of Jean-Baptiste's parents are of Haitian descent, which makes him eligible for the team.

"It means a lot," he said. "I'm a first-generation American citizen with more than half of my family born in Haiti. Knowing the past tragedies that happened there, being able to represent them on the basketball court, it just means too much to have that jersey with the country across my chest."

His UTC team was in Akron, Ohio, at the time he received the email, preparing to play the Zips.

"I didn't open it at first," he said. "I just saw all caps that it said, 'INVITATION TO HAITIAN NATIONAL TEAM.' I stood there, in shock. I didn't want to open it. ... I stood there for about 20 minutes."

The formation of a competitive national team - which Haiti hasn't had in 30 years, according to Jean-Baptiste - was aided by Jim Bostic, a former Rucker Park (Harlem, N.Y.) legend who committed back in 2010 to putting a team together. He committed himself to training Haitian coaches and putting on clinics for Haitian players and has been working to raise $5 million for a first-of-its-kind national training facility. He said in a 2015 article that his ultimate goal was to "help build a national basketball program in Haiti by the year 2020."

The team will have at least one marquee player on the roster in former Kentucky standout and current Dallas Mavericks forward Nerlens Noel. Also on the current roster is another Kentucky player, forward Skal Labissiere of the Sacramento Kings, although he may not play.

The Haitian team will be in training camp June 13-21 and will take the floor June 25-29 for the Caribbean Cup in Suriname on the Atlantic coast of South America.

Jean-Baptiste was one of only two players to play in all 33 games for the Mocs in 2017-18. He had 17 starts and averaged 6.3 points per game on 38 percent shooting and 31 percent from 3-point range. He also averaged 2.1 rebounds and 1.9 assists. He had 18 points against Samford in the first round of the Southern Conference tournament, making seven of his eight shots and all four of his 3-point tries. His final 3, with 1:48 remaining in a two-point game, started an 8-0 run to finish the game and give the Mocs an 89-79 win.

He also scored 18 points, while adding seven rebounds and six assists, in a win over Tennessee Wesleyan on Nov. 25. After that game, he walked to the McKenzie Arena podium with the Haitian flag in tow - the same one he ties around his backpack while walking around the UTC campus.

When asked why he was carrying the flag, he said it's a reminder that the game is "bigger than him."

"The name on my back, my last name, my family, where we come from, it reminds me to stay humble and remember what I'm doing," Jean-Baptiste said. "Everywhere I go, I just know my family's got my back, so why be nervous? Why be scared?"

Now there will be an entire country ready to have his back.

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.

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