Jaylen Hinton has never logged as many minutes on a college basketball court as he has this season. He's tripled his old average.
Of course, he's ecstatic that University of Charleston men's basketball coach has the faith in him to start him in 16 of the Golden Eagles 17 games and average 25.4 minutes a contest. Yet he still must adjust to life as a starter rather than a role player.
The sophomore feels he's getting the hang of it, and will get another game to grow into the job at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, when UC hosts the University of Virginia College at Wise at the Charleston Catholic Athletic Complex.
Hinton came to Charleston from Division I Georgia State. He was part of a 25-win team that reached the NIT, but played just 7.2 minutes a game, averaging 1.4 points. He left GSU in June 2014 and arrived at UC in the spring 2015 semester. He practiced with the team during that time, but Osborne said it's not the same.
"That's not competition," he said. "In college, this is the first time he's really playing a lot of minutes. He's playing hard and I'm proud of his effort."
Hinton admits he's had to knock off some rust in the period between his sporadic play at GSU and his major minutes at UC. He said most of that rust comes from having to miss competitive action for a year. Now he's in the mix against national top-five teams like West Liberty and Fairmont State and rivalries like West Virginia State.
"You go from playing pickup and practice for a year, and now you have these rivalry games and their intensity," Hinton said. "Sometimes, coach will let me know that I'm playing too laid back. We're aware of it, so that's the first step to fixing it."
Both Osborne and Hinton said it's taking a little time for Hinton to return to form. There have been little nagging injuries, tweaks that haven't kept him out of the lineup but may have hindered his play. Hinton has on-court talent. He was a first-team all-state pick as a senior at Trinity Episcopal High School in Richmond, Virginia.
What Hinton appreciates is that Osborne is allowing him to work through his struggles on the court, letting him figure things out without a fear of becoming a spectator of the game for long stretches. That freedom hasn't always been there in Hinton's college career.
"Sometimes you'll struggle, but you know that the coach is going to go back to you," Hinton said. "I'm messing up right now, but I know I'll get another chance. I've got to prove him right and make plays for the other team. My role as a freshman at Georgia State, one mess-up, and I might not see the court for the rest of the game."
That trust showed in UC's 70-68 win over the Yellow Jackets. Hinton made just 2 of 10 shots from the floor that night. But in 30 minutes, he also made 9 of 14 free throws, recorded three assists and stayed turnover-free, scoring 13 points in the Golden Eagles' victory. It was his fourth double-digit scoring performance of the season and the first game since Dec. 19 against Davis & Elkins where he didn't commit a turnover.
"It's great," Hinton said. "[Osborne] believes in me to make plays. There's no excuse. I can't say, 'Oh, coach doesn't believe in me.' He believes in me to make a play, now go make a play."
Osborne will continue trusting Hinton, because he sees Hinton's head for the game and knows that acumen will only help on the court.
"He's a smart kid, really intelligent," Osborne said. "He makes great grades and has a good basketball IQ."
Hinton enters today's game averaging 6.7 points, 2.6 assists and 2.0 rebounds a game. He hopes to continue fine-tuning his game, and said that's easy to do in the supportive environment in which he finds himself.
"It feels good," Hinton said. "I love these guys. I love coach, and I appreciate that he's not afraid to challenge me. If I'm not doing anything in the first half, he'll let me know and it's my job to respond, because I know it's out of love."