2019 Player Discussion Thread: Elijah Joiner

[ctt8410]

Sophomore G Elijah Joiner

The history of freshman guards under Frank Haith is not inspiring.

Micah Littlejohn - Played 6 total minutes and transferred after the season.
Kajon Brown - Played 16 total minutes (including 1 baffling start in the biggest non-conference game) and transferred after the season.
Sterling Taplin - The one success story. Played 10mpg and broke out as a sophomore.
Joseph Battle - Played 51 total minutes and transferred after the season.
Travis Atson - Played 135 total minutes and transferred after the season.
Lawson Korita - Averaged 12mpg and 3ppg. Returned as a sophomore and averaged 12mpg and 3ppg.
Darien Jackson - Played 91 total minutes.

So it was thrilling when Elijah Joiner burst onto the scene as an athletic, fiery, aggressive freshman guard right out of the gate. There were freshman mistakes, but 6.6ppg/2.4rpg/2.0apg on 50% from three in his first 10 games was a breath of fresh air. And it didn't hurt that Joiner was arguably the best perimeter defender on the team from the jump.

Unfortunately, things really fell apart after that. Joiner continued to play 15-20mpg, but he shot just 26% from 3, 63% from the line, and less than 5% from 2. That's not a typo. Five percent. And he ended his season on the sourest note. A knee injury in the last game of the season against Memphis.

Maybe the first college season wore him down. Maybe being forced into the unfamiliar role as backup point guard was to blame. Maybe he ate the cafeteria chili too often?

Whatever the reason, TU fans need to hope that Joiner made significant strides to fix those issues in the offseason because expectations are unreasonably high after the freshman year he had. I'll need to see it before I believe it.

2018 stats: 16.8mpg, 3.8ppg, 2.1rpg, 2.0apg, 0.3spg, 1.5topg, 0.0bpg, 19.5% 2PT, 35.8% 3PT, 61.2% FT
2019 proj.: 19.1mpg, 5.1ppg, 2.4rpg, 2.2apg, 0.3spg, 1.6topg, 0.0bpg, 26.9% 2PT, 40.3% 3PT, 60.8% FT

 

[seniorgolfer]

Sophomore G Elijah Joiner

The history of freshman guards under Frank Haith is not inspiring

So it was thrilling when Elijah Joiner burst onto the scene as an athletic, fiery, aggressive freshman guard right out of the gate. There were freshman mistakes, but 6.6ppg/2.4rpg/2.0apg on 50% from three in his first 10 games was a breath of fresh air. And it didn't hurt that Joiner was arguably the best perimeter defender on the team from the jump.

Unfortunately, things really fell apart after that. Joiner continued to play 15-20
mpg, but he shot just 26% from 3, 63% from the line, and less than 5% from 2. That's not a typo. Five percent. And he ended his season on the sourest note.
A knee injury in the last game of the season against Memphis.

Maybe the first college season wore him down. Maybe being forced into the unfamiliar role as backup point guard was to blame. Maybe he ate the cafeteria
chili too often?

Whatever the reason, TU fans need to hope that Joiner made significant strides
to fix those issues in the offseason because expectations are unreasonably high after the freshman year he had. I'll need to see it before I believe it.

ctt8410...A very well documented reprise of Joiners fr. year....Thanks!

Most all of the posters and readers on this board have a sharp eye for what
a good basketball player looks like....I think all of us would agree, almost to
a man, that Elijah Joiner shows unusual potential as a basketball player....I
agree with ctt8410's first two possible reasons why Elijah finished the final
several games of his fr. season so badly, and ed at the 3rd one...

.In reading everything I could find about this team, it has seemed to me
that the two pivotal players for the upcoming season might well be Horne
and Joiner.....If they come thru with consistently good performances, we
are going to be awfully hard to beat....If not, things will be dicier....

The preseason comments about Joiner's progress have been heartening
and positive....It would be great to be able to give Tap enough rest without
a drop-off in team performance....

I'm looking forward to seeing that expected Fr.-Soph improvement from
elijah, and hopefully more....That could well be crucial to our success this
season......

 

[TU_BLA]

One of TU's coaches posted a video of Joiner taking a ton of shots after practice was over and commented on his work ethic last year. It is rumored that Joiner has the strongest work ethic and drives on the team already. He's a sophomore. He's a special one.

 

[cmullinsTU]

One of TU's coaches posted a video of Joiner taking a ton of shots after practice was over and commented on his work ethic last year. It is rumored that Joiner has the strongest work ethic and drives on the team already. He's a sophomore. He's a special one.

He was one of the more vocal players on the court early on last season, that aspect of his game impressed me all season last year. If he made the freshman to sophomore leap, that is common in college basketball, he's going to be very special indeed.