Jacob Gibson, former Harding guard and 2016 alumnus, is entering his second year with the Liga Nationala, a professional basketball league in Romania. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gibson made a name for himself in the Rhodes-Reaves Field House, posting the second highest number of 3-pointers in Harding history and being named the 2016 Great American Conference Player of the Year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gibson averaged 17.3 points with 5.1 rebounds his senior year, making the aforementioned Player of the Year for the GAC. He knew his basketball career would continue post-Harding. He just did not think it would last this long. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m glad I\u2019m still playing,\u201d Gibson said. \u201cI didn\u2019t think I\u2019d still be in the league after five years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gibson began his professional career playing for the Ringwood Hawks in Australia as a rookie. His three years provided, not only a second chance at a basketball career, but also a second community,similar to what Harding offered him during his time in Searcy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c[Ringwood] is basically my second home,\u201d Gibson said. \u201cI feel like I\u2019ve got people that are almost like family down there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As Gibson is beginning his second season in Romania, he discussed his experiences with Billy Morgan, Harding\u2019s \u201cvoice of the Bison\u2019s,\u201d on a Zoom call that is available on Harding Sports\u2019 Facebook page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMoving to Romania was definitely challenging last year, as far as off the court \u2014 just trying to keep pushing and keep playing,\u201d Gibson said in the interview. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gibson compared playing professionally to playing collegiately, saying the style of play is more intense and serious on that level. However, he said he thought his Romanian team was more similar to Harding than his Australian team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019d say my team in Romania this year equated more to the style we played at Harding,\u201d Gibson said. \u201cI\u2019ve learned a lot about the game. It\u2019s been good to have both experiences, and I think [it has] helped me make myself a more well-rounded basketball player.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dawson Yates, assistant women\u2019s basketball coach and Gibson\u2019s former roommate, said Gibson had talent that many others did not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI know I\u2019m a little biased because he was my roommate and the best man at my wedding, but Jacob was the man,\u201d Yates said. \u201cHe was committed. He had a switch to him come game time that very few guys have.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It wasn\u2019t just his teammates and coaches who enjoyed watching him play. Many members of the Harding community knew the name Jacob Gibson and watched him play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t talk to him much, but seeing him on the court was always special,\u201d alumnus David Savage, who was the head of the Rhodes Rowdies during Gibson\u2019s time, said. \u201cIt\u2019s not often that you see a talent like Gibby\u2019s in person. He always came in clutch when we needed it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gibson also said people like Jeff Morgan, Harding athletic director, and Ray Lynn Woods, men\u2019s basketball assistant, have helped him become the player and teammate that he is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey helped me so much,\u201d Gibson said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of players that can\u2019t make it \u2014 not because they\u2019re not a great player, they have the talent \u2014 but they don\u2019t know how to be a great teammate \u2026 that\u2019s part of winning a championship.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jacob Gibson, former Harding guard and 2016 alumnus, is entering his second year with the Liga Nationala, a professional basketball league in Romania. Gibson made a name for himself in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15068,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-columns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15068"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15023"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15023\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15024,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15023\/revisions\/15024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}