The rise of junior Darius Gardner seems to appear out of nowhere, similar to the Eagles’ 10-0 start to Patriot League play. Gardner stands at a modest height of 5’9”, making him the shortest player listed on AU’s roster. He leads a team that was projected to place second-to-last in the Patriot League.
When 2014 rolled around, the picture for AU flipped entirely. In the first month of the season, AU blazed through its conference, including a dominating performance over the anticipated first-place finisher Boston University. The team’s success even attracted national attention, receiving one vote in the Jan. 27 AP Top 25.
At the helm of AU’s success is Gardner, who is playing his first season at AU since transferring from Stephen F. Austin State University in 2012.
As of Feb. 11, Gardner leads the Patriot League with more than 37 minutes played per game. Gardner leads the Eagles in assists and averages over 11 points a game.
Gardner is regarded as a leader, a motivator and a playmaker on the court. By watching his game, teammates and fans alike see that Gardner hustles after the ball even when his efforts won’t necessarily show up on a stats sheet.
“He’s just always trying to make a play when he’s on the court no matter where he is,” AU head coach Mike Brennan said. “He brings a great effort and a great mindset on a daily basis.”
In spite of AU’s and his personal success this season, Gardner still competes and talks about his play with the intensity and urgency of someone who leads a struggling team. He takes compliments about the team’s achievements with a grain of salt and usually adds a comment about the team’s room for continued growth.
“We haven’t done anything successful yet,” Gardner said. “We have a couple of games that we’ve won so far, but there are still things we can work on.”
While Gardner’s outlook on the team and the season is reasonably cautious, Gardner has an underlying constant determination to defy expectations wherever he goes.
The youngest of three boys, Gardner’s family influenced him to play basketball from a young age.
“My dad gave me a little basketball and I started to play when I was 4 years old,” Gardner said. “Seriously, I started when I was 6. Watching [my brothers] play basketball before I got really involved with it made me want to start playing basketball just like them.”
In middle school, Gardner joined a basketball team led by older players who quickly targeted him to pick on. They branded him ‘Pee Wee’ because he was younger than the rest of the players, and the nickname has stuck with him ever since.
“I loved it then and I love it now,” Gardner said.
By the time high school rolled around, Gardner was well aware of the challenges that he faced as a young man growing up in Houston and as a basketball player of his stature.
“He always played with a chip on his shoulder because of his size,” Jack Yates High School assistant coach Jawann McClellan said in an interview with the Eagle.
McClellan, who knew Gardner prior to Jack Yates, noted that Gardner is “always on the court thinking he has something to prove.”
“You couldn’t tell him that he couldn’t [play] no matter his height and weight,” McClellan said. “He used basketball, like I always taught him, to get him where he wants to.”
Gardner’s doggedness was a powerful tool that he harnessed as a leader of his high school team.
“He was like a second coach out there on the floor,” McClellan said. “He got every player to play hard. He was a very vocal leader on the court and off the court.”
Gardner pushed himself as a basketball player and was duly recognized in his time at Jack Yates as a four-time all-state, all-district and all-city honoree. He led his team to two state championships and one national championship.
However, when Gardner began his college career at SFA, his role on the team altered dramatically. After averaging nearly 20 points and nine assists a game at Jack Yates, Gardner’s numbers dropped to five points and three assists a game. It wasn’t long before Gardner knew it was time for a change.
“It was my second year there and it just wasn’t the right fit for me, so I didn’t want to sit there and waste two more years,” Gardner said. “[The coach and I] came to the decision that it was best for me to transfer schools.”
Gardner’s search led him to AU where the former coaching staff recruited him. Gardner transferred to AU, but he was required to sit his first season out per NCAA rules.
“It was my first year actually being able to sit out of basketball since I was six years old, so it was very tough watching basketball without being able to play and help my team out,” Gardner said.
Though challenging, Gardner found value in the experience of being benched for a year.
“It made me look at the game differently,” Gardner said. “It made me look at how important each minute, each second, of the game can be, and how important each possession is.”
When Gardner was finally eligible to play, another setback came along in the form of coaching changes. Then head coach Jeff Jones left AU for Old Dominion University and was replaced by then Georgetown assistant coach Brennan.
“It was a big difference trying to learn from the new coach and having a new coach come in, but I’ve embraced it and I love Coach so far,” Gardner said of Brennan.
Brennan’s arrival necessitated an adjustment period for every player. The team as a whole learned to work under the “Princeton Offense,” a basketball strategy that emphasizes the constant movement of all the players on the court for better passing and shooting. In addition, Gardner worked to change his shot with the help of Brennan, AU Assistant Coach Scott Greenman, and Pete Carril, developer of the Princeton Offense and Brennan’s head coach when he attended Princeton University.
“He increased my skills and had me change my shot,” Gardner said of working with Carril. “That’s still a work [in] progress, but since then, he’s been giving me confidence and encouragement.”
With all of the changes the team undergoes in its journey to the NCAA tournament, Gardner still emphasizes other aspects of the game, especially bonding as a team and having fun on the floor.
“For me, the main thing is that at the end of the season, if we don’t win the championship, we can look back and say that we did a lot of positive things,” Gardner said.
Nonetheless, with the success of the Eagles this season, Gardner admits that he can see the team win the Patriot League championship come March. What may have seemed impossible to critics in August is a challenge and a hope-filled promise to him.
“Underdogs are definitely fulfilling once you accomplish things that people don’t expect you to accomplish,” Gardner said.
And for Gardner, a perennial underdog, fulfillment has been a long time coming.
sports@theeagleonline.com
