Karl McCray has coached NBA All-Stars, college All-Americans and several other basketball talents during his 25 years with the AAU’s Atlanta Celtics.
But McCray said he’s never coached anyone quite like current LSU sophomore guard Tim Quarterman.
“He has so much personality,” McCray said. “He never met an enemy. Everybody is his friend. That’s just Tim Quarterman.”
McCray still remembers a 16-year-old Quarterman calming down his teammates during a tournament in Las Vegas.
The Celtics were in the quarterfinals, gearing up to play against the team favored to win the entire showcase. While everyone, including the coaching staff, was tense for the upcoming matchup, the laid-back Quarterman was able to relax the team’s nerves.
“We were in the team meeting going through all the last-minute instructions,” McCray said. “In the middle of it all, Tim got up and said, ‘Coach, that’s enough of that pre-game stuff. Let’s just go play. We don’t need anymore conversations. Let’s go.’”
To Quarterman, the key ignition behind the Tigers’ fast-paced and high-octane offense basketball isn’t that complicated.
“A lot of people try to make basketball rocket science,” Quarterman said. “To me, if you just play your heart out, that’s all that matters.”
But McCray isn’t the only person with a quirky story about Quarterman — who was LSU’s sixth man for most of the season before emerging as the starting point guard for the final nine games.
LSU sophomore forward Jarell Martin, one of Quarterman’s closest friends on the team, can still recall one of the assistant coaches introducing him to the Georgia native during an on-campus visit nearly two years ago.
“When we were in the Union, I was watching him eat,” Martin said. “He was eating so fast, so I just started recording him and put it on Instagram. Ever since then, I just started recording him eating. He’s just a funny guy. Everything he does makes me laugh.”
But Quarterman keeps his comical personality at bay when the lights come on.
Off the court, Quarterman is always looking to crack a joke and be the life of the party. But once he steps on the court, LSU’s biggest prankster trades in his jokes for a business-like approach.
“One thing about him, when it’s about business, he’s a guy that going to come out and play hard,” Martin said. “I’ve never met a defensive player like Tim. He can be on one end of the court and run over to help and then run back to his man. I’ve never seen anyone hussle like him.”
The Tigers (22-9, 11-7 Southeastern Conference) will need all the tricks up Quarterman’s sleeve as they prepare to embark on their upcoming postseason journey, which they’ll start Friday in the SEC Tournament in Nashville, Tennessee.
After a thrilling 81-78 road victory against No. 21 Arkansas on Saturday, some believe LSU has all but locked up its first NCAA Tournament berth in six seasons.
One of the biggest reasons is the improved play of Quarterman, who battled through a frustrating freshman season before enjoying a memorable sophomore campaign in 2015.
After scoring in double figures just once as a freshman, Quarterman has reached that mark 17 times as a sophomore, including 10 games with at least 15 points. He also leads the Tigers in assists (123) and has a team-high with 43 steals, which ranks eighth in the SEC.
Quarterman played 405 minutes as a rookie but has more than doubled that this season with 1,031 minutes — the third-most on the team. LSU coach Johnny Jones said the heavier workload has been instrumental in Quarterman’s improvement.
“His time on the floor has has allowed him to be more of a confident basketball player,” Jones said. “He wasn’t as confident [last year] as he is now.”
Quarterman’s second season in Baton Rouge has been full of highlights, such as his 21 points in a road win against No. 18 West Virginia, his career-high 27 points in a double overtime thriller against Georgia and his triple-double against conference-rival Ole Miss — the program’s first in 23 seasons.
Few take the game of basketball as seriously as Quarterman does, but he still tries to let his playful personality shine when he’s on the court.
“When I’m out there playing enthusiastically about the game, I lift [my teammates’] spirits to play even harder,” Quarterman said. “When all five of us are out there playing hard and together. We’re hard to beat.”
The Tigers have been a tough out with Quarterman running the show. LSU has gone 6-3 since Jones inserted the 6-foot-6 point guard into the starting lineup Feb. 7, and four of those wins came by double digits.
In Quarterman, the Tigers have a rangy, playmaking point guard that can do it all — defend the opponent’s best player, rebound and start the break, set up his teammates for easy buckets or take over the scoring load when needed.
But as long as LSU wins, Quarterman doesn’t care what his final stat line looks like.
“I just try to go out there and help my team anyway I can,” Quarterman said. “Some nights it shows, and some nights stuff like defense doesn’t show in the box score. Every night we get a win I’m happy no matter what the box score says.”
Even when things aren’t going Quarterman’s way on the court, he makes up for it with unmatched hussle, something McCray noticed before his former player became a four-star recruit.
“He plays hard, and he never takes plays off on the court,” McCray said. “That’s very rare in grassroots basketball. When these kids in high school are the man, they take it easier sometimes and think they can rest while they’re on the court. Not Tim Quarterman.”
After a chaotic regular season, things are bound to get more hectic when Quarterman and his LSU teammates start postseason action tomorrow.
How the Tigers perform in the frenzy of March Madness is almost as unknown as who they’ll play in the conference tournament or where they could wind up the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
But McCray said LSU is in good hands under Quarterman’s direction.
“When things are getting really tense in a situation, Tim will come up with something goofy or something that relaxes all of us and lets us know that it’s a game of basketball,” McCray said. “That’s Tim Quarterman.”
You can reach David Gray on Twitter @dgray_TDR.