Howard men’s basketball has added two playmaking guards, Joshua Strong and Jordan Hairston, as they look to start preparing for the season.
Kenneth Blakeney, head coach of the Howard men’s basketball team, is excited to bring more depth to the backcourt. Blakeney knows that the teams who succeed in March Madness are more likely to have a handful of talented guards to help run the show.
“It’s comforting, you know at our level, teams that are good, and I think teams that play in March have incredible guards. Those two guys are very seasoned. Jordan has played four years of college basketball and has a COVID year, and Josh is such a mature student-athlete. So we’re very fortunate to be able to add two guys that have high character, high basketball IQ, and they fit everything that we do within the structure of our offense and defense,” Blakeney said.
Hairston is a six-foot guard transferring to Howard from the University of Texas at Tyler. While there, he averaged 8.8 points and 1.4 assists, leading the team at the starting point guard position in 22 out of 25 games. Hairston, a Fairfax, Virginia, native, joins a long list of players who have attended Howard to play basketball from the DMV area. Hairston is ready to contribute to the team’s success this upcoming season while also being able to play close to home.
“The bond and connection I built with the coaches, the chance to help lead the team to back-to-back championships, and the ability to come home and play for my city,” Hairston cited were his reasons for making the move.
Strong is also a six-foot guard transferring to Howard from the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Strong averaged 6.6 points and 2.3 assists last season while shooting 41% from three-point range. Strong anticipates starting a new journey at Howard with a new culture.
“I am mainly looking forward to being around my people. I was at a PWI for my undergrad years, and at times [I found it] hard to find people to identify with in the classroom. I went from being the only Black kid in most of my classes to seeing Black and brown everywhere. It’s beautiful. Howard, and especially the law school, has a lot of history and power behind it that I want to carry on,” Strong said.
Both players have already begun to acclimate to Howard, with the first week of classes filled with events tailored to students. They still have more time to make themselves comfortable before ramping up for the season later this fall.
Copy edited by Diamond Hamm
