Jalen Coleman-Lands ready to make an impact at Kansas
On Monday evening, Kansas got its point guard of the future when Remy Martin, the 6-foot-0, 175-pound point guard from Chatsworth, Calif., announced his decision to transfer from Arizona State to Kansas.
On Wednesday afternoon, Jalen Coleman-Lands, the 6-foot-4, 187-pound guard from Indianapolis, Ind., made the exact same move. After stops at Illinois, DePaul, and Iowa State, Coleman-Lands, on Wednesday afternoon, announced his decision to transfer to Kansas for his final season.
Shortly after going public with his decision, JayhawkSlant.com caught up with Coleman-Lands.
“Yes, sir,” said Jalen Coleman-Lands when talking about his decision to transfer to Kansas. “Yes, sir. I mean, we had been talking for about two weeks. We've been talking for a decent amount of time, almost every day, every other day. We've been in the loop for a while, so it was no surprise from my end, but it was kind of low-key. How I liked it, too.”
Its been quite a journey for Coleman-Lands, the No. 39 ranked player in the class of 2015. After two years at Illinois and three years at DePaul, the former four-star prospect ultimately decided to attend Iowa State last season.
In his only season at Iowa State, Coleman-Lands averaged 14.3 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game. He shot 48 percent from the field, 39 percent from behind the arc, and 86 percent from the free-throw line. He scored in double-figures 21 times, including a combined 40 points (20 each game) in back-to-back games against Kansas.
Only twice this past season did Coleman-Lands not hit a shot from behind the arc. Additionally, he made three or more threes thirteen times during that same stretch.
Once Coleman-Lands decided to transfer from Iowa State, he managed to keep his recruitment as quiet as humanly possible. Until today, not much, if anything at all, was known about what was going on with Coleman-Lands.
How was Coleman-Lands able to keep this so quiet?
“Honestly, I feel like it's just trust,” said Coleman-Hands. “With their coaching staff, with my family. We're pretty close-knit. So we just had a lot of Zoom calls that gave us clarity on how they felt about me, and that's kind of how it went.”
What, if anything at all, does Coleman-Lands remember about his first conversation with the coaching staff?
“The first one? The first one was Coach Case and Coach Self just saying, "We want you,” he said. “We feel like you'd be a perfect fit for what we have and what we're envisioning." At that time, that was before Remy had committed and stuff like that. But they still had an idea of how they wanted the team to look and how it was going to function. And they felt like I had a major role completing that.”
During his one season at Iowa State, Coleman-Lands hit 58-of-147 shots from behind the arc. Thirteen times, he hit three or more shots from downtown. Next season, he should provide a great deal of experience, leadership, and the ability to hit big shots night in and night out.
Coleman-Lands, without question, has a vision of what his role will be at Kansas.
“Oh, definitely to be able to make shots,” he said. “I've shot a high volume of not only threes, but just shots, two-pointers, pull-ups, and I'm shooting at a pretty high rate given how often I’ve shot in different areas, being able to come off screens, be able to shoot with the ball in my hand. And defensively, just being one of those grit guys, dive on the floor, take charges, be that offensive/defensive player.
“And then obviously, with my experience, leadership, bringing that to the table as well,” he added. “Those were some areas that they were looking to get out of me. And they're looking forward to displaying throughout this year.”