LUMBERTON — Through the tough 6 a.m. workouts in the preseason, Lumberton basketball coach Matt Hill saw senior D.J. McDonald take the first steps that took him from being a tentative player, to one of the Pirates’ top inside threats this year.
“It’s tough getting up that early in the morning and showing up when the gym’s cold and you’re still asleep,” Hill said. “He showed up and put in the work and it paid off.”
The payoff for McDonald was a developed, confident skill set he hadn’t discovered that helped him grab the attention of the Fayetteville Technical Community College basketball coaching staff at a workout. On Wednesday, McDonald made his commitment to FTCC official with a signing ceremony,in front of many of the teammates he went through workouts with before the school days started.
“If you really want it, you’ve got to get up and go get it,” McDonald said of the early morning workouts. “The only tough part about it was getting up, but when I got in there it was worth it.”
Before his junior year, McDonald wasn’t sure that he would get the chance to play at the next level. He credits a lot of the lessons he learned under Hill’s first season with the Pirates as what shored up his dream.
“At first going into my junior season with everything going on with that, I honestly didn’t think I’d play college basketball,” McDonald said. “Thanks to Coach Hill and the new system we brought in and everybody sort of buying in toward the end it kind of opened things up for me and my college basketball career.
“This year I learned it’s real important to buy into a program and get involved in what the coaches tell you.”
McDonald averaged 7.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per game as a senior, including five double-doubles.
“I’d love to have him another year, but it feels really good. I’m very happy for him and very proud of him,” Hill said. “That’s what you want to see is kids going to school and also kids with good grades going to school.”
Hill noticed a lack of confidence in McDonald’s game before the season and said he worked all year trying to get him to break free from the doubts that were holding him back. As his comfort level grew, so did McDonald’s abilities on the hardwood.
“He was one that didn’t have a lot of confidence. He gained a lot of confidence and he really blossomed, especially towards the end of the year,” Hill said. “He’s definitely got an arsenal. He didn’t always show it, but it goes back to confidence. Once he gets his confidence, he’s going to be hard to stop.”
FTCC enters its second season of basketball in the fall after going 6-24 in its inaugural season. Through tryouts and a visit during one of its games, McDonald said the program “feels like home,” and will be a stepping stone for his future.
“It’s a new and I can tell that because it’s new they want to put in extra work,” he said. “The coaches and staff are really working with the players to get them to the next level and try and get more Division I offers.”
After his two years at FTCC, he plans on seeing where basketball could lead him at another institution and plans on studying computer engineering.
