For LCC basketball star Jay Wallace, there is no place like home
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Every morning, when Jay Wallace wakes up and sees his younger brother before school, he knows he made the right decision to come home.
For his family. And for himself.
It’s been a good deal for Lansing Community College’s basketball team, too.
“It just put my mind more at peace being home,” Wallace said.
You might know Wallace as one of the stars of Williamston High School’s 2022 state championship basketball team. Maybe you’ve heard his story. That he lost his father to cancer in September 2020, early in his junior year of high school. Perhaps you also knew his father, Al, who was a presence in this world. To no one more than his oldest son.
“He and his dad were just crazy close,” Jay’s mother Stacy said. “He was the kind of dad that constantly coached him. Not just basketball, but like on the way to school. He was constantly counseling him, like how to talk to adults and this is the way you handle yourself here.”
Al’s coaching left Jay as prepared as a teenager can be for life. His absence also left a hole. And left Jay with a sense of purpose beyond his own goals.
And so the kid who once felt pressure to figure out where he should continue the dream he and his father shared — for him to play college basketball — realized that this year, at least, he should play in his own backyard, at LCC, a short drive from his family’s home in Bath. He spent his freshman year playing at the University of Toledo.
LCC coach Mike Ingram had a feeling Jay was coming home last March when Ingram went to Ann Arbor to see Toledo play at Michigan in the NIT. Ingram’s son Justin is an assistant coach for the Rockets.
“After the game, I’m walking through the tunnel and Jay walked by me and gave me a quick look. And I remember saying to Justin, ‘I think Jay’s going to come play for me next year.’ ”
Jay liked a lot about Toledo, including his teammates and coaches. And winning. The Rockets won the Mid-American Conference regular season championship last season. But he wanted to play and he wanted to be home and Toledo provided neither. As a preferred walk-on for the Rockets, he played 20 total minutes over 11 games last season.
“I knew I probably wasn’t going to play, especially off the jump, but I thought I was going to be more OK with it,” Jay said. “It just kind of ate at me. I just wanted to have basketball be fun again.”
At LCC, playing time is not an issue. Jay leads the Stars in scoring, averaging 23.3 points, along with 7.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists in nearly 34 minutes per game.
“He’s been everything that I want from a kid that comes in as a transfer,” Mike Ingram said. “He’s used to winning. Guys like that, they want to win. For the most part, it’s the only thing they know. And so that’s kind of what I’ve counted on a little bit with him.”
He’s also been a better outside shooter than Mike Ingram realized, making nearly 36% of his 3-point shots for the 8-5 Stars, who resume play on Jan. 10 at home…
Read More: For LCC basketball star Jay Wallace, there is no place like home 2023-12-28 00:13:36