For point guard Reggie Lassiter, something is different about playing men’s basketball at Bakersfield College.
Lassiter, 21, a sophomore who attended Eastern Senior High School in Washington, D.C., played last season without having his family in attendance at his games. “The main thing is not having my family in the stands watching me.”
“They (his family) gave me support back home, [but] they can’t be here every game,” Lassiter said.
Lassiter feels that the biggest difference from playing in Washington, D.C. as opposed to playing in California is the difference in support and crowd size.
Lassiter mentioned two of his main strengths.
“My strengths are I have been practicing on my jump shot a lot and attacking the hole,” he said.
Lassiter mentioned the main thing involved in improving his jump shot is just to work on it.
“Coming in at seven o’clock in the morning just to get some extra shots in before practice whenever I can, staying after practice to get a couple of shots in.”
Lassiter says that he is more of a passer on the court, which gets him lots of assists.
At a tournament over the weekend Lassiter had 21 assists in 3 games.
“Drive, if the lay-up is there then I take it, if not then I kick it out and open up a shot for someone else,” he said.
Head coach Rich Hughes feels that Lassiter as a point guard is like a secondary coach on the floor.
“He brings a lot of leadership. One thing about Reggie is that he is a true competitor, he is going to compete every play and play hard and that rubs off on the other guys.
“If other guys aren’t playing hard, Reggie’s one of the first guys to tell them they are not doing what they are supposed to do,” Hughes said.
Hughes mentioned that Lassiter has to work on his free throws and cutting down on turning the ball over.
Lassiter said he plans to transfer and play basketball at a four-year university, but he hasn’t talked to any universities yet.
“I am just keeping my options open right now. I haven’t talked to nobody yet but sooner or later I will,” said Lassiter.
Lassiter, whose major is criminal justice, plans to be either a social worker or a parole officer.
Off the court, Lassiter just likes to lay back and play video games. His favorite video game is NBA 2k; he likes to be the Washington Wizards.
“You have to go with the home team,” he said.
Lassiter mentioned that before any game, he likes to listen to music but added that he also makes sure to talk to his dad and his cousins.
Lassiter said that the person who inspired him to play basketball since the beginning was his dad.
“He played basketball and it was his love, so it turned into my love,” he said.