La Salle’s Isiah Deas has increased his intensity and production
The junior has seen his scoring average increase each season and is now averaging 12.4 points.
Isiah Deas has steadily ramped up his production at La Salle. The 6-foot-6 junior has averaged 3.2 points as a freshman, 9.5 as a sophomore, and 12.4 this season.
What also has increased: his intensity and his belief in his game.
“The one thing I have seen improved is his confidence,” first-year La Salle coach Ashley Howard said. “With Isiah, it is every day bringing it. I think what he has improved on most is understanding how to bring it every day, how to practice hard every day.”
It hasn’t been easy for Deas, though, and Howard has stayed on him about it.
“I tell Isiah all the time, ‘You are as talented a player as I have ever coached. If you ever learn to apply yourself all the time, you can be really good,’” Howard said. “And he is buying into it.”
A Brooklyn native who spent a year at Coastal Academy Prep in New Jersey before joining La Salle, Deas says he is more of a leader by example than a vocal leader. Deas also has improved his perimeter game markedly. He made 29.2 and 29.1 percent of his three-point shots in his first two years, but this season, Deas is hitting 36.3 percent of his treys.
“Coach gave me a lot of confidence in the summertime,” said Deas, who is averaging 26.6 minutes and scored a career-high 25 points in last week’s 79-69 win over Davidson. “I have worked on my shot every day, and so once I am open, I feel like I can knock it down.”
Deas is able to shoot the three-pointer off the dribble, creating his own shot. He says the key is not over-dribbling.
“What I try to do is take two or three dribbles at the max,” he said. “If I don’t have anything, I try to reverse it to my teammates.”
That kind of self-awareness has added to Deas’ all-around game, one that has taken a big leap this season.