This was back in October, during the late stage of a dizzying pre-season battle in the HoopMIA JUCO Cookout Jamboree in Miami Gardens.
An opponent approached Palm Beach State guard Malik Curry and instantly gave the seasoned sophomore a hard, thorough stare down. The opponent’s grill rapidly morphed into an intimidating smile.
Curry reacted by flashing a toothy smile of his own, as he habitually does when the emotions and intensified sequences of the game are ratcheted up a few notches. Pressure-spiked points like these are ultimately what the gritty 6-foot-2 guard relishes.
It’s that unforgettable moment, where the crowd reaches ear-shattering crescendo and the clutch gene is tested in a matter of moments and the mental moxie is put to a valuable task. These are indeed moments that have special resonance with a playmaking point guard of Curry’s fabric and poise.
In this particular instance, the left-handed Curry went from rim to rim, whizzing a shovel pass to a jarringly wide open Marcus Hopkins for a two-handed dunk. And although this was a turning point during a rather meaningless pre-season game, the play was symbolic of Curry’s mentality during heightened pressure.
He’s composed enough to smile through it all.
Curry might as well sport a perma-smile all throughout Lake Worth these days.
He’s certainly smiling at the barrage of now-former detractors.
There were a handful of naysayers who had him pigeonholed as too small. Others mistakenly opined Curry as too skinny to absorb the punishing upfront contact from rim protectors. His craftiness through traffic and ability to embrace contact is one of the finer points of his all three levels’ scoring acumen.
“Coach (Martin McCann) expects me to go out every night and be a leader for my team and get everyone better,” Curry said.
“I think I’ve been carrying out those expectations fine so far. I could have been better in those four games we lost but I’m still growing as a player and learned from those games.”
If he seems small physically compared to other guards, he’s a jumbo, bar room brawling monster between his ears.
Curry has never been the type to ponder the what-ifs or entertain any lingering traces of doubt. The unwavering security and flashy know-how to his game is what differentiates him from the rest.
This JUCO experience is akin to “Last Chance U” for a lot of prospects, and therefore the kill-or-be-killed, “there is no tomorrow” philosophy echoes with Curry.
The summer of 2018 saw Curry investing those unseen, sweat-soaked hours polishing up his mid range game while simultaneously opening up a dependable outside shot. He worked steadily along the gun and got an exhausting number of shots up on his own.
With his shot release speed increasing and his outside game apparent, Curry has shouldered the role of dual threat and ball dominant influence for a youth-laden team containing nine freshmen.
Heading into 2019, Curry is averaging a team-best 18.5 points, 5.5 boards, and 5.5 assists. He’s quickly dispelled the notion of an offensively limited threat, authoring six games of two or more 3-pointers made, underscored by a 6-for-12 3-point barrage during a 102-84 loss to No.1 Northwest Florida State College.
Curry turned in an efficient account of himself during an 88-83 win over Chipola College, dropping 31 points on a 13-for-19 shooting display. He’s shot 21-of-30 in his last two games. He’s averaging 25.2 points during a recent five game stretch.
JUCO basketball, at times, can be a full on display of fluid ball movement and aesthetic, pure team basketball. It can also be an unforgiving environment where the team concept goes to all but sign its own death warrant. Selfishness and the demand for individual statistics has the tendency to sully the ball movement and make for some me-first individualists arguing over shots.
Not at Palm Beach State.
With Curry operating the offense and locating cutters, the ball movement has been prevalent. The Delaware native had one three game span in which he doled out 29 assists, underscored by his 13 dimes during a 92-81 win over Pensacola State, back in mid-November.
With Palm Beach State shifting its gaze on a new year, the lofty NJCAA expectations have not withered even the slightest bit.
“We can’t settle, we have to go harder than ever if we want to go where we want to go,” Curry explained. “I expect my team winning the last game at Hutch winning the chip honestly.”
