A Closer Look - Season 1 (Andre Anthony)
No matter what the situation is, people that want to achieve their goals will do nearly anything possible to reach them.
Junior newcomer André Anthony has seen a lot of situations that not only most people his age have never seen, but much older people have not and should not have seen.
Growing up, the 6-1 guard from Pittsburgh, Pa., was not involved with anything detrimental to his growth and maturity, but a lot of it surrounded him.
“A lot of my peers picked up guns and drugs,” Anthony said. “I was fortunate because basketball really saved me. Nobody had a male role model growing up and that’s what others around me lacked. However, my mom is a very strong woman and raised me to be the right type of man.
“Later on, I was fortunate as my step dad taught me a lot and how to be a man.”
Basketball is a game of will and determination – and that’s exactly what Anthony has. His will to be different was arguably the biggest difference in him making something of himself while his peers have not.
“At a young age, we would see drug busts all the time and saw things that people shouldn’t see,” Anthony stated. “I wouldn’t want anyone to grow up like that.
“A lot of my friends and people I grew up with did the stereotypical things and never made it out,” Anthony mentioned. “They were or are still selling drugs and some are in jail.”
Coming out of Penn Hills H.S., Anthony was an honors student. He excelled in school, but had just a few options upon graduation.
“West Point recruited me, but I didn’t have the test scores,” Anthony said.
He was heading to a prep school, but the institution decided to not offer a scholarship that was promised, which led Anthony to scramble for the next phase of his life.
“I started working and stayed ready for what was ahead even though I was unsure of where I’d be,” Anthony stated.
Anthony ended up at the Community College of Beaver County. Part of it was because of proximity to his home. The school also had a lot of history and already had one of Anthony’s friends on the team.
“The two years at Beaver County were a real struggle,” Anthony said. “At times we did not have the support or the resources at the school. We (basketball players) did not have proper housing and it was unorganized (from the players’ standpoint).”
Despite all of this, Anthony did what he always did. He thrived in a situation that was tough for him. He managed to keep his focus on where he wanted to be. Even going through a tough situation there, Anthony continued to excel where his one escape from a hard situation lay – on the basketball court.
In two years, Anthony netted over 1,000 points and guided the team to a 54-5 mark. He led the school to back-to-back undefeated seasons on its home court. Anthony was extremely accurate, draining 57.9 percent of his shots from the floor as a sophomore, including a 46.8 percent clip from downtown. Both years he averaged over 20 points and after his sophomore year, he was named a second-team All-American after picking up first-team all-region honors. Anthony led the team to the No. 1 spot in the nation two years in a row.
It seemed as though his future was set as a Big 12 school was going to sign him, but that did not work out.
After finishing his sophomore campaign, he listened to a friend from Pittsburgh that has played for former USC Aiken great DeVontae Wright at The Citadel. Through his connection and the outstanding recruiting by head coach Vince Alexander and his staff, Anthony arrived on campus late in the summer of 2014.
“USC Aiken was the place to be,” Anthony said. “The coaching staff is great and they didn’t judge me or my background. They were completely honest with me and they really wanted me here.”
Similar to Wright and Re’mon Nelson before him, Anthony could be another great guard under the direction of Alexander.
Despite not getting off to a great team record that he was used to at Beaver County CC, Anthony is arguably an unquestioned leader on the team. His will and determination to succeed are uncanny. After all, if the game comes down to Anthony having to make a play as time expires, it should be easy for him after everything else he has been through.
