Former Peninsula star JaQuori McLaughlin has UCSB in NCAA Tournament for first time in decade
This weekend in Indianapolis, JaQuori McLaughlin’s college basketball career will hit its peak.
UC Santa Barbara, the program the 23-year-old point guard has already guided to the Big West regular season title and the conference tournament title, will begin its run in the NCAA Tournament.
This will be the program’s first appearance in a decade, and the Gauchos, a No. 12 seed, are a popular upset pick among analysts to upend fifth-seeded Creighton in the first round. That game tips off at 12:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
McLaughlin will be at the center of it all.
Now a senior, McLaughlin, a former Peninsula High School standout, has turned in three impressive seasons at UCSB following his record-breaking introduction at Oregon State as a freshman. But, this run with the Gauchos has been his breakout.
Entering the tournament, he is averaging a team-leading 16.2 points and 5.2 assists, while adding 3.4 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game. He is shooting 48.9% from the floor, 40.4% from 3-point range and 84.2% from the free throw line.
He was named the Big West Player of the Year last week, days before he paced UCSB to the Big West Tournament title, secured the conference’s automatic bid and took home the tournament’s MVP honors after pouring in 22 points in the championship game win over UC Irvine. He added to his list of accolades earlier this week when he was named an honorable mention All-American by the Associated Press.
“It means a lot, just knowing how much work I’ve put in over the years, and this summer coming into the season,” McLaughlin said recently.
“Then also just crediting my teammates, how much they believe in me and my coaches believe in me, and the support they’ve given me throughout the year.”
Behind McLaughlin’s steady leadership, the Gauchos have won 18 of their past 19 games, and have set a program record for consecutive wins (13). They went undefeated on their home court.
McLaughlin also became the third player in the program’s history to score more than 1,000 points and tally more than 300 assists — he has 1,133 points and 356 assists at UCSB to date. He has 1,485 points and 482 assists spanning his four-year college career.
None of this surprises Jake Jackson, who coached McLaughlin his four high school seasons with the Seahawks before moving on to Sumner, where he coaches now.
“He’s just special,” Jackson said. “He’s uncommon. The way he impacts winning is unrivaled As a high school coach, a college coach, you want kids that add value and raise the tide and the harbor so all boats get lifted to a higher level.
“JaQuori is the epitome of that. He impacts winning at a high level. He makes everyone around him better. And he’s proved that everywhere he’s gone.”
NBA DREAMS
McLaughlin learned his first crossover dribble before he even started kindergarten, his father, Jason McLaughlin, said.
His professional basketball dreams started early.
“When he was 7 years old, he told me, ‘Dad, I’m going to play in the NBA someday, and I’m going to be on TV.’ And I said, ‘Well, that’s really cool.’ And you’ve just continually seen this competitive spirit in him,” Jason said.
Jason chuckled recalling attending JaQuori’s parent-teacher conference in the third grade.
JaQuori was a good student, did his schoolwork, and enjoyed his classmates, but his teacher noted everything JaQuori wrote about in class was about one day playing in the NBA.
Jason said he sat down and talked with his son about the reality of a level so few get the opportunity to reach.
“The reality is the world that we live in is tough, and the odds of you getting there are really, really, really small,” Jason said he told JaQuori. “But if you want that to be your goal, I’m all in. We’re going to reach for the stars and we’re going to believe anything’s possible.
“But, you’ve got to give yourself every opportunity possible,” he continued. “So you have to be a good person, you have to be a good Christian, you have to be a good student, you have to be a good brother. You have to be a good community member. All these different things, not just be a good basketball player.”
He’s seen JaQuori reach all of those goals. Even now, when Jason speaks to members of the UCSB community, he said what is mentioned most often is the quality of his son’s character.
“His talent is starting to show through more because of the awards he’s winning and the success of the team,” Jason said. “But I still think, ultimately, who he is as a leader and a person is what’s going to give him his opportunity to play beyond college.”
A WELL-ROUNDED PLAYER
The elite level at which JaQuori could play basketball emerged throughout his career at Peninsula.
He was a four-year starter for the Seahawks under Jackson, a four-time 3A South Puget Sound League first-team pick, the league’s MVP as a junior, and a two-time TNT All-Area selection.
His senior year in 2016, he was named Mr. Basketball by the Washington Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association — the award given by coaches in the state to one player each season spanning all six classifications — after averaging 19.3 points, 9.1 assists and 5.5 steals per game.
Peninsula won a school-record 21 games that season, and advanced to the state playoffs for the first time since 2008. The Seahawks haven’t been back since he graduated.
Jackson marveled at the aptitude and feel JaQuori had for the game as a high schooler.
Jason, who is 5-foot-9, had each of his four sons — O’Shea, JaQuori, Elijah and Javion — focus on learning how to impact the game in more ways than one from a young age.
“We love basketball, and I said, ‘Here’s the deal, I don’t know how tall you guys are going to be, so you’re going to know how to make your team better,’ ” Jason said. “That was kind of our philosophy from the time they could first dribble a basketball was, ‘You’re going to learn how to play the game in a way that just makes your team better.’
“ … Being a great passer, being a great defender, taking smart shots, playing with a high IQ — those are really important parts of the game that we wanted to teach the boys at an early age.”
JaQuori eventually grew to 6-foot-4, but still embraced the idea of being a versatile player.
“He’s a well-rounded player that wants to make smart basketball plays, because he wants to win, and he wants his teammates to want to play with him,” Jason said.
‘JAQUORI MADE 43’
With his ability to impact the game at both ends of the floor, JaQuori became a consensus four-star guard in high school, was considered the No. 2 player in Washington in the 2016 class behind Rainier Beach’s Sam Cunliffe, and a top-100 player nationally.
His elite shooting and passing ability drew several high-major offers, including a handful of Pac-12 schools and perennial national contender Gonzaga.
Jackson remembers when former Washington coach Lorenzo Romar visited Peninsula’s gym during JaQuori’s final season.
“After practice ended, he threw JaQuori the ball,” Jackson said. “He goes, ‘50 attempts. I do this every time I recruit a kid.’
“So, Romar was passing JaQuori the ball and I was rebounding. He wanted to JaQuori shoot 50 3-point shots around the arc. Five spots, 10 attempts per spot. Out of 50 attempts how many are you going to make?
“And JaQuori made 43.”
CORVALLIS TO SANTA BARBARA
The McLaughlins had some history with the Oregon State program. They would attend camps at colleges across the Pacific Northwest — like UW, Seattle U, Oregon, Oregon State and Boise State — giving JaQuori a sense of campus life.
He initially made his commitment to the Beavers when Craig Robinson was the coach, but when Robinson was fired, he reopened his recruitment.
He briefly committed to the Huskies, but eventually decommitted, and landed in Corvallis.
JaQuori started 30 of 32 games for the Beavers as a true freshman in 2016-17, averaged 10.5 points and 3.3 assists per game, and hit a freshman program record 58 3-pointers.
But, six games into his sophomore season with Oregon State in 2017, he decided to transfer away from the Pac-12 school.
“It just wasn’t the right place for me,” he said.
He was granted his release in early December, finished classes, and his family helped him back his bags and head back north a few weeks later.
When he arrived home, UCSB was waiting. Gauchos coach Joe Pasternack and two of his assistants flew into the Tacoma Narrows Airport with game film, practice plans and “Gold Standard” information and met JaQuori and his family at his grandfather’s house in Gig Harbor.
“They sat down and showed JaQuori on film what his role was going to be and how he was going to be an amazing fit,” Jackson said.
JaQuori had interest from a mix of more than two dozen high-major and mid-major schools, Jason said, but it didn’t take long to realize UCSB was the right fit.
“We had some big-time programs,” Jackson said. “I told JaQuori, it’s all about fit, so go where you’re wanted by the head coach, where the head coach sees you as a major role, a major puzzle piece.
“From there, you’ll perform at a high level because you’re confident and comfortable with your role, and just the overall standard that’s being set for you.”
UCSB also already offered familiarity. Pasternack and assistant Ben Tucker had connections to Jackson — all spent time on Sean Miller’s coaching team at Arizona — and assistant John Rillie, when he was on the Boise State staff, was the first to recruit JaQuori in high school.
“Really the connection was the first thing that brought me here,” JaQuori said. “And then just listening to coach Pasternack and the system that he used, and how he was going to use me in that and how he was going to help me develop my game was really big for me.”
JaQuori visited Santa Barbara the following January, and ended up canceling trips to other schools.
“Right after that, I knew I was going to come here,” he said.
“And that was that,” Jason said. “And it was a smart decision he made.”
“You don’t chase the program, you chase the fit,” Jackson said. “For JaQuori to do what he’s doing right now and take UCSB to the NCAA Tournament, it was part of the discussion in that family room in Canterwood at his grandparent’s where they said, ‘JaQuori, you are the missing piece, we’re going to build around you, you’re going to take this team to the NCAA Tournament.’
“And the rest is history.”
LOOKING AHEAD
Before he moved to California and join the Gauchos roster, JaQuori took classes at Tacoma Community College, graduated with his Associates Degree and continued to work out in the South Sound.
“Not being there with the team kind of allowed me to focus on myself a little bit more and just work on individual things in my game,” he said.
He headed to UCSB that June, and was an immediate contributor for the Gauchos. His redshirt sophomore season, he averaged 10.3 points and 4.1 assists starting each of the program’s 32 games.
He bumped those numbers up to 13.4 points and 4.1 assists as a junior on his way to a honorable mention nod on the All-Big West team.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and shut down the 2020 edition of the Big West Tournament before it started, JaQuori returned to the South Sound, riding back from California with his grandfather, who was already in the Santa Barbara area.
After arriving home at March, he got right to work.
“I just focused like I was going to have a season,” he said. “Just working out every single day preparing to play, and having 2-3 workouts a day. Just focused on that. That was the only thing. I wasn’t really doing anything else, just working out with my brothers.”
He worked out in the driveway, local parks and even on the football field, focusing on agility and conditioning, and pulling the sled with weights on it “just trying to get stronger, more explosive,” he said.
Before returning to California, he was also able to get work in with perhaps the most successful player Tacoma has produced in Isaiah Thomas. Thomas, as he often does with players who hail from the Tacoma area, has consistently showed his support for McLaughlin on social media.
When JaQuori returned to California, his senior season spoke for itself. He’s logged double-digit points in 21 of 25 games, and five or more assists in 14.
The dream of playing in the NBA is still there, but JaQuori said ahead of the Big West Tournament his focus is on staying in the present.
He has now turned his attention to Creighton, and leading the Gauchos in this NCAA Tournament run.
And those in the Tacoma and Gig Harbor basketball communities are ready to watch.
“We’ve surrounded my son with really good people, really good families,” Jason said. “The whole basketball community between Tacoma and Gig Harbor have played a part in helping him build his foundation. Obviously he’s the one who put the work behind it, but the foundation of support that people had continued to encourage him to be who he was, and do things the right way.”
JaQuori grew up playing alongside and against other high-caliber players in the South Sound, like Bellarmine Prep’s Malachi Flynn, who starred at Washington State and San Diego State before he was drafted in the first round by the Raptors last fall, Alphonso Anderson, who started his high school career at Wilson before playing at Garfield, and is also in the tournament this season with Utah State, and Wilson’s David Jenkins Jr., who is now at UNLV.
“Playing with guys, playing against guys since a young age, we’ve all been close since then,” JaQuori said. “It’s really a strong community. … It just elevates your game when you’re when you’re playing with guys like that.”
Like Thomas, and some of the other successful players from the area he looked up to when he was younger, JaQuori wants to pass on what he’s learned to the next generation of South Sound basketball players.
“I want to come back and help inspire and help encourage the next generation,” he said.
SOUTH SOUND PLAYERS IN THE MARCH MADNESS BRACKET
Alphonso Anderson
Utah State
Forward, 6-6, 220, sr.
High schools: Wilson, Garfield
Previous schools: Montana, North Idaho College
Averaging 16.2 minutes, 6.8 points, 2.7 rebounds per game in 28 games played.
No. 11 seed Utah State plays No. 6 seed Texas Tech at 10:45 a.m. Friday.
Emmitt Matthews Jr.
West Virginia
Forward, 6-7, 215, jr.
High school: Wilson
Averaging 25.4 minutes, 7.7 points, 4 rebounds, 1.1 assists per game in 27 games played.
No. 3 seed West Virginia plays No. 14 seed Morehead State at 6:50 p.m. Friday.
JaQuori McLaughlin
UC Santa Barbara
Guard, 6-4, 190, sr.
High school: Peninsula
Previous school: Oregon State
Averaging a team-high 32 minutes, 16.2 points and 5.2 assists, 3.4 rebounds per game in 25 games played.
No. 12 seed UCSB plays No. 5 seed Creighton at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.
Casson Rouse
Guard, 6-2, 180, R-soph.
Eastern Washington
High school: Timberline
Averaging 13.3 minutes, 2.9 points, 1.1 rebounds per game in 18 games played.
No. 14 seed Eastern Washington plays No. 3 seed Kansas at 10:15 a.m. Saturday.
This story was originally published March 19, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
