Jack Gibbs, a 2013 Westerville North High School graduate who was recruited to play basketball at Davidson College in North Carolina, is featured in the February 23 edition of Sports Illustrated. In a Campus Rush article written by Zac Ellis, Gibbs is reported to average 25.3 points per game, is tops in the Atlantic-10, and is ranked third nationally.
The 6-foot, 195-pound junior point guard is also being compared to another “undersized” Davidson alum – NBA MVP Golden State Warrior Steph Curry, who “blew up box scores at Davidson from 2005 to 2009.” Curry and his Warriors were in town for a game against the Charlotte Hornets recently when the super star stopped by to cheer on his alma mater in person. During the game he watched, Gibbs hit his first 14 shots in route to 41 points in a 109–74 Wildcats win. Afterwards, Curry pulled him aside and said, “You shot it well today.” Gibbs said it was “pretty cool to hear that from arguably the best shooter in the world.”
Ellis wrote, “Gibbs’s tremendous scoring ability came as a surprise to Bob McKillop, who is in his 27th season as head coach of the Wildcats. In January 2012, McKillop dispatched his son Matt, an assistant coach, to scout Gibbs for a game at Westerville North High School, located 15 miles north of Columbus, Ohio. Seeing Gibbs play in person for the first time, the younger McKillop watched the sharpshooting prospect suffer a torn ACL in his left knee, which ended his junior season. But Matt McKillop had seen enough from Gibbs; he called his father said, ‘We have to stay on this kid.’”
“Gibbs rebounded as a senior to average 16.8 points, 4.8 steals and 4.1 assists, leading the Warriors to a 21–2 finish and a berth in the district semifinals. He capped the year by winning the 2012–13 Gatorade Boys Player of the Year in Ohio,” Ellis continued.
Headed into his second season at Davidson, Gibbs was named Team Captain, the first sophomore to earn that title during Coach McKillop’s tenure. “As a junior,” Ellis concludes, “Gibbs has evolved into one of the biggest scoring threats in college basketball.”