- April 25, 2024
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Tyler Hopkins has helped the Flagler Palm Coast boys basketball team to its best start in school history.
It was late in the third quarter Tuesday night, inside the gym at Flagler Palm Coast High School. A raucous crowd was cheering on the Bulldogs, who were battling against district opponent Sandalwood and in search of a 10th straight victory.
The Bulldogs got off to a slow start, but battled back quickly. After falling behind by four points early in the first quarter, FPC led the majority of the way.
Coming out of halftime, FPC led 34-23, but Sandalwood was far from out of it.
FPC junior guard Tyler Hopkins stole the ball from a Sandalwood player and streaked up the hardwood. The Bulldogs were already up 14 points, but another layup and the Bulldogs would be up 16. As Hopkins got into the paint, he took a peak over his shoulder for teammate Willie Gardner, who was trailing behind.
Rather than taking the simple layup, Hopkins flipped the ball into the air to a leaping Gardner for an alley-oop. Gardner missed, and then committed a foul.
FPC coach Gary McDaniel wasn’t happy. He took Hopkins out of the game immediately.
Sandalwood went on an 8-0 run after that play. Hopkins’ return slowed Sandalwood, but the Saints eventually got within a single point late in the game before FPC held on to win, 66-63, improving to 16-1 this season — the best start in school history.
The Bulldogs are headed to the playoffs.
But the alley-oop attempt wasn’t forgotten. It was another chance for McDaniel to teach Hopkins a valuable lesson.
‘He was a hot dog last season’
Hopkins, a junior, moved to Palm Coast from Columbus, Ohio, in seventh grade. He gave up football a year later and began playing organized basketball.
As a freshman at FPC, he earned the starting point guard job on the junior varsity team.
In Hopkins’ sophomore season, McDaniel took over the program. He decided to move Hopkins up to varsity and throw him into the fire as the team’s starting point guard.
Things started off well, but a few games into the season, Hopkins’ youth and immaturity began to show. It was up and down the rest of the way.
“There were major growing pains,” McDaniel said of Hopkins in an interview Monday. “Tyler always had the ability to play at a high level, but his decision-making and overall bad habits needed improvements.”
At times, Hopkins would try to dribble through three, four or five defenders. He’d take ill-advised shots. He wouldn’t pass to the open shooter or run the offensive set McDaniel called.
McDaniel would be left on the sideline scratching his head. Eventually, McDaniel had enough and decided to demote Hopkins to backup.
“There were times when he probably didn’t like me,” McDaniel said.
Hopkins took his coach’s decision to bench him hard. But he learned that it’s all part of the game.
“I should have just been willing to help the team and lift the team up any way I could,” Hopkins said.
Hopkins struggled off the court, too. Though he said he has never been declared academically ineligible, he has missed time because of his in-school behavior. Earlier this season, he missed a game against Atlantic because of a referral.
It was immaturity off the court that was translating to his undeveloped play on the hardwood.
“I’m a funny guy,” Hopkins said. “I just make the class laugh, and sometimes I take it overboard. But those are all little things I can fix.”
But Hopkins said that through all the growing pains as a sophomore, quitting never crossed his mind.
Then, things really began to click for him last summer.
At a basketball camp after his sophomore year, Hopkins saw the size of the players and the dedication and commitment they had made. It was time for him to get serious.
“It made me want to get right in the weight room and practice more,” Hopkins recalled. Just become a gym rat and shoot for hours until his arms couldn’t handle it, he said.
He got back to town, and his older brother, Touche Hopkins, helped him with weight training. He’d shoot free throws until he made 50. He’d take 3-pointers from six spots on the floor. He wouldn’t stop until he made at least five from each spot.
This season, Hopkins leads the team in scoring and assists, and is second in steals. He averages 13.2 points, 5.9 assists and 3.1 steals per game.
Hopkins was the only person who could make himself grow up. His coach knew that.
As a sophomore, Hopkins was a hot dog, McDaniel said. Now, he’s one of three captains and has his team believing in him.
And he believes in himself. He plays to be the best guard on the floor.
Getting stronger
Hopkins is FPC’s pulse.
Losing him to foul trouble is bad enough, and when McDaniel has to take him out as part of a learning lesson, it hurts the team.
Watching from the bench in the third quarter Tuesday night after relapsing to his sophomore self, Hopkins sat seats away from the coaches. He reflected on what he did. It’s all a part of the learning process for him.
“A year ago, Tyler made those plays on a regular basis, and it drove me crazy and gave me headaches,” McDaniel said after Tuesday night’s game. “It reminded me of the growing pains we went through with him.”
McDaniel and Hopkins know veteran teams capitalize on silly mistakes, much like Sandalwood did. Fortunately for the Bulldogs, they didn’t quite come all the way back.
Hopkins acknowledged after the game that he should have just laid the ball in for the easy two points. “I was just excited,” he said.
McDaniel knows it’s all part of the maturity process for his young guard. These days, the slip-ups are the exception. He has already come a long way, and he knows how to take criticism and become stronger as a result.
“It’s like night and day,” McDaniel said of his point guard’s transformation from last year. As a coach, McDaniel said seeing a player evolve in such a short period of time is beyond rewarding. “It’s what being a coach is all about.”
STATS
Points/game — 13.2 points
Assists/game — 5.9
Steals/game — 3.1
