McLane’s Dazir Newhouse is seeing his hard work pay off on the basketball court. Newhouse, who put together a strong performance at the recent Mendota Holiday Classic, earned the Attitude And Effort Award at the tournament.
Although he was disappointed to see his team walk away without the championship at the Mendota Classic, Newhouse had his best game of the tournament when he recorded 16 points and nine rebounds against Tranquility.
The sophomore came into the season looking to prove that he is willing to do all the little things it takes to win games.
“The little stuff I do is finally getting noticed.. The Little Things Do Matter,” he recently tweeted.
Newhouse is also up putting up the same type of effort in the classroom, where he maintains a 3.0 GPA.
The two-sport student-athlete, who plays football and basketball, talked about his keys to success in the following essay.
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It felt great to get the “Attitude & Effort Award.” But I wanna give all glory to God because with out him it wouldn’t be possible. And a thanks to my mother and coaches for supporting me and pushing me too.
But I was very happy receiving it. And what it took to get it, was Everything. One thing Coach Davis told me was leave it all out on the court and that’s what I did.
I go to McLane and I honestly feel like don’t nobody like us and I take it personal you know. So I compete hard ’cause I hate losing. I really do. So I left all I had on the court. And even with some calls I didn’t agree or obviously bad calls, I had a great attitude, didn’t complain just kept playing and kept a positive mindset the whole tournament.
And yeah that 16 pts & 9 rebounds was one of my big games of my basketball season so far. I was one rebound away from a double double. Probably could have got it, but was so tired and we was up by a lot, so coach gave me a break… But it also felt good performing like that.
I expect to have more games like that.
I was super sore after and was in pain. But it hurts to win, so I’m OK with it.
And also wanna give a shoutout to my teammates ’cause we all had great energy on the court that game. And I think my overall performance the whole tournament was good. I can see that I got way better than I was.
I played hard every time I got on the court, encouraged teammates to play hard. So I think I did good in the tournament. And so did my teammates. Most of them matched my energy and they played hard.
But I know if we would have played a little harder we could have won that game. It was one of them games where some of us had no energy. And I’ll take responsibility to that because I’m one of the more vocal teammates. And at a time in the game I wasn’t talking and not being myself in the game, which was a reason we didn’t win it all.
But I think we have a lot of potential to do something we haven’t done in a while . . . that’s win a playoff game. ‘Cause we do have some dawgs on our team and that’s something we all looking forward to.
And my Tweet, yeah 100% true. You know, like waking up at 6 a.m., working out & it was paying off ’cause sometimes I be the strongest player on the court, which gives me an advantage you know
.. also, you know, doing small thing my coach tells me to do.
Like when I’m not in the game, still be engaged, like telling my teammates that are on the court to do things. Say if it’s a open player in the corner, I’ll tell one of the ball handlers to dribble with their head up, so they can see.
And also I start chants you know and I see my teammates respond off that energy I have when I’m not on the court. And you know when one of my teammates get fouled hard and hit the ground, the whole team rushes over there to help them up. It’s just, you know, small things that adds up.
People pay attention to it and I’ve got messages from doing things like that. And it also helps not only me, but my teammates.
And yeah I’m a football player first and I actually think I’m better at football than I’m at in basketball, but some similar things I do on the field that helps me on the court that helps me take my game to the next level is how I can use my legs to stay in front of the defender. You know, great foot work.
And I’m strong and aggressive, but the best thing I do from the field that transfers over into basketball is how I read the ball handler’s eyes to go get a easy steal and turn it into a fast break lay up or assist .
Yup, I have a 3.0 GPA. What it takes to maintain it is commitment. You know I got somewhere I’m trying to be and I sacrifice a lot. Like missing out on having fun.
Doing extra work or taking assignments before they are even due ’cause I know that I might have to leave class early for an away game .. It’s all mental when it comes too stuff like that. So I’ll say you just have to know . . . when you gotta get it done, you gotta get it done. That’s how I look at it!
