March 19, 2024

I-35’s White earns first-team all-state nod

Interstate 35 junior Jaylan White performed like one of the best basketball players in the state this season.

After leading Class 2A in scoring, assists and steals, White was rewarded by earning first-team all-state honors from the Iowa Newspaper Association, which released its all-state teams Tuesday morning.

White also received first-team recognition from the Des Moines Register.

The 5-9 junior point guard averaged 23.9 points per game to go with 188 assists and 127 steals. That averages out to 7.8 assists and 5.3 steals per game.

“He is a very unique, once in a coaching career player,” Interstate 35 head coach Nate Rankin said. “He’s a pleasure. Not only just a great basketball player, he’s a wonderful kid. He’s great to be around. He challenges me to be a better coach every day. He makes everyone around him better. That’s the thing people don’t understand.”

White ranked second in the Pride of Iowa Conference scoring race, behind Nodaway Valley junior Jackson Lamb, who earned a first-team selection in Class 1A.

He shot 55.4 percent from the floor and knocked down 30 3-pointers, hitting at a 43.5 percent rate from behind the arc.

“He made the looks that good,” Rankin said. “He’s the emphasis on every team that comes in there to try to slow him down. It wasn’t like he got open looks every time. A lot of his shots were contested. He just worked on it, worked on it and made himself better.”

White improved his 3-point shooting from last year, when he made only 15 3-pointers at a 29.4 percent rate and only 42.7 percent from the field overall.

“I felt leadership, he really improved on,” Rankin said. “Outside shooting, that’s what we did every time he hit the gym this summer. Just shot as many threes as we could. Went back to fundamentals. Tried to make it a consistent 3-point shot every time, where last year it wasn’t. Spent a lot of time on the gun, that’s for sure.”

White’s ability to break down a defense and get to the rim, or to kick out to an open teammate makes the Interstate 35 offense go.

His court vision is one of his biggest assets.

“The things he does, you can’t just step off the street and play with him,” Rankin said. “You have to get comfortable with him, or you’re going to take a ball off the head. He can hit them (teammates) at the optimum time to hit a bucket.”

White, a Division I prospect, can change a game on the defensive side of the ball, as well.

“He’s probably the quickest side to side I’ve ever seen in our area,” Rankin said. “Defensively, he can change a game. Offensively, he can take it over. In a close game, it’s hard to beat a guard who can make free throws. It’s a nice luxury to have.”

Night after night, White puts up big offensive numbers while also defending the opposing team’s best guards, often times, shutting them down. Rankin estimated that White, between scoring and his assists, is responsible for about 50 percent of Interstate 35’s points.

“He’s getting dogged by one to two guys every game. Then he’s going to take their best guard and make them nothing,” Rankin said. “Noah Simon (of Central Decatur), he averaged 13 points per game, and he had nothing. Guarded (Noah) Thornton for a brief amount of time. (Jackson) Lamb. Anyone you can think of. The (Deric) Laing kid from Chariton. He relishes the fact that he can shut somebody down.”

White’s impact on the court has gone beyond just with his team, however.

“With him, it’s been a great program-changer for me,” Rankin said. “Everybody wants to play basketball, because they come to the games and see how exciting Jaylan is. Our youth numbers are higher than they’ve ever been.”