CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – Austin Peay men’s basketball junior guard/forward Terry Taylor has chosen to enter his name into the 2020 NBA Draft. The reigning OVC Player of the Year announced his decision via Twitter on Saturday.
The news comes less than a week after his Governor teammate Jordyn Adams also declared for the upcoming draft.
Like Adams, Taylor hasn’t yet signed with an agent and also retains his eligibility to return to school if he so chooses.
According to Taylor, Adams’s decision did not have a direct influence on his own.
“No,” Taylor answered. “I was going to anyway. I didn’t even know that Jordyn was planning to do it. He had talked about, but I didn’t know he was going to go through with it. His decision had nothing to do with mine.”
The Bowling Green, Ky., native is one of four players in Division I currently averaging 20 points and 10 rebounds per game. Taylor is also the only player in the nation to lead his conference in both scoring and rebounding and the only player among the nation’s Top 15 in scoring.
Unlike Adams, a projected first-round grade isn’t going to be a determining factor on whether or not Taylor will leave his name in the hat come the June 15 deadline to stay or withdraw.
“I haven’t really seriously thought about that yet,” Taylor said. “I may be tempted to do second round, but first round is guaranteed. I mean anybody would take that…The feedback will be pretty clear on what I will need to do.”
Player evaluations are having to be carried out irregularly by NBA front offices and executives due to current restrictions, but at the moment Taylor is just taking the process one day at a time while remaining fresh in the meantime.
“I just want the feedback to see where I’m at, see what they think of my game and how I can improve,” Taylor said. “I put my coaches down on my draft application as contacts, so they can talk to them and then get the information back to me. All I can really do right now is try to keep in shape and keep my body strong. I have a basketball goal, so I’ll be able to shoot and just try and stay as sharp as I can just in case they do have something like individual workouts.”
Mostly every college athlete’s goal is to one day play professionally at the highest level that their individual sport has to offer. For Taylor, the opportunity to simply play in the NBA is a dream come true and he doesn’t have any particular landing spot in mind.
“My grandma always says beggars can’t be choosers,” Terry said laughingly. “I just want to get my foot in the door and make it work from there.”
Taylor revealed that he spoke with Austin Peay men’s basketball head coach Matt Figger prior to the start of the 2019-20 season about the possibility of it being his final year as a Gov.
“I’ve talked about it with Coach Figg for awhile,” Taylor said. “It was something that him and I really thought I should explore. I just think it’s helpful that he’s been so supportive of my decision. I prayed about it and it just felt like it was the right time to do it. I feel confident that I put myself in a great position to get drafted.”
With now two players from Austin Peay set to enter the 2020 NBA Draft, Taylor believes it says a lot about the current state of the men’s basketball program.
“I think it just shows the work that we put in,” Taylor said. “Anything can happen. For Coach Figg to trust us enough to put the ball in our hands and go make plays, means that there’s some pretty good basketball players that do and can come out of there.”
Through three Austin Peay campaigns, Taylor has been nothing short of spectacular on the floor.
This past season, he earned a spot on the Lou Henson All-American team, becoming the first player in program history to earn United States Basketball Writers Association All-District honors and also recently picked up his third consecutive National Association of Basketball Coaches All-District nod.
“If I do come back, I think I can improve on being a leader even more than I was this year,” Taylor said. “I’d also like to try and get Austin Peay an OVC championship. That’s the one thing that I feel like is holding me back more than anything because teams want winners. I think doing that would push me over the threshold.”
If Taylor does decide to go through with his decision, Governor fans should be glued to the television June 25, if the 2020 NBA Draft takes place as scheduled.