Stepping on the McKenzie Arena court Saturday was a little weird for Jake Stephens.
As the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga senior got ready for the Mocs’ latest Southern Conference basketball game, a gaze to the other half of the court brought into view opposing players warming up for Virginia Military Institute.
VMI was the place that had afforded Stephens the opportunity to be one of the most highly sought players in the NCAA transfer portal this past spring. The place where he scored 1,416 points, grabbed 585 rebounds, blocked 153 shots and made 189 3-pointers in four seasons.
For those four years, the Mocs, among other SoCon foes, were the enemy. But now it was the Keydets who were the enemy — only that wasn’t really the case. Those were his friends over there, guys he had been into numerous battles with, except now he’s against them.
The sight of the Keydets also brought to mind for Stephens some great memories from his time at VMI, which found him as a 6-foot-8 high school senior in Bunker Hill, West Virginia, with no scholarship offers, signed him and helped develop him into a 7-foot, 275-pound pro prospect. Stephens thought of his time in VMI’s Cameron Hall, where he admitted Saturday he “made more shots than in any gym in his life.”