As a high school basketball player coming out of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Blessed Barhayiga had offers from multiple schools, including NAIA universities. But he chose to become a Lake Region State College Royal.
Head coach Jared Marshall, who’s also the athletic director at LRSC, visited Osseo High School to recruit Barhayiga, and he told him that he saw potential. Marshall convinced him, Barhayiga recalled, that a stint in JUCO would be the best thing for him.
And here is now, a 6-foot-8 sophomore leading the Royals in points and rebounds per game. Barhayiga, after a solid freshman season, has made further strides during his second year as he seeks the scholarship that will raise him to the next level.
“It’s a doggy dog world in JUCO,” Barhayiga said. “Everybody’s chasing the same dream. Everybody’s chasing the same thing to get that highest scholarship you can get. I like it. I love the grind.”
Barhayiga was sold in his first meetings with Marshall, a coach with a fiery personality on the court. In any given game, there’s arguably nobody more invested than Marshall, who shouts instructions at the players, claps his hands emphatically when things go right and displays his frustration when things go wrong. It’s not uncommon to hear him tell the players to do something faster or make a different decision next time.
But he does it as someone who cares about his players. He gives them motivation to play at their absolute best.
“I love that. I like coaches like that,” Barhayiga said. “He gets on us. He yells at us. He might even swear a little bit. But that’s because he loves us. At the end of the day, he tells us every time he gets on us, it’s because he loves us.”
Marshall has experience as a high school coach, a four-year coach and a referee, in addition to his current position of coaching JUCO. Marshall knows how much these kids are playing for. JUCO might not get the same fanfare that pristine high school programs or four-year universities get, but the games are arguably just as competitive, if not more so, because of what’s on the line for a JUCO athlete.
“One of our former players said this when he was talking to our guys: He said JUCO is the most savage level of basketball because everybody wants to play and everybody wants to get out,” Marshall said. “All the guys on the team, they want to come out and try and go D1 or four-year or D2, that kind of thing. It’s tough because you’re always replacing. Four-year guys have the luxury of senior leadership.”
But with that eagerness to move on comes an extra importance to take advantage of opportunities. And that’s exactly what Barhayiga’s done.
As a freshman, despite playing on a team that lost nearly all of its games, Barhayiga was one of the squad’s better players and proved that he could compete at the JUCO level. He played in 29 of the Royals’ 31 contests and started in 13 of them. He made 54.2% of his field goal attempts throughout the season, averaging 14.1 points per 40 minutes.
His performance earned him a consistent starting role during the latter half of the season. As a freshman, nothing was going to be handed to him, but he earned his spot fair and square. He started eight of the Royals’ last nine games down the stretch.
That success has carried into this season, with Barhayiga taking a starting role right from the beginning. He no longer has to worry about playing time; he’s tied for the most minutes per game on the team with 25.7. He leads the team with 13.7 points per game and 7.6 rebounds per game.
“This has been a pretty good year for me. I’ve progressed pretty good,” Barhayiga said. “My coach is on me, works me hard. My teammates work me hard. They put a lot of trust in me, so I don’t want to let those guys down. So that’s why I really push every day to get these wins and keep the team level-headed and to keep the spirits high.”
In the Royals’ win on Feb. 4, which lifted them out of a funk, Barhayiga put up a double-double. He was consistently in the mix during LRSC’s scoring plays, whether it was putting up the shots himself or passing to the right players to make the shots. He was a key cog in two big runs for the Royals: 15-0 and 18-0.
“He’s been impressive all year,” Marshall said. “He’s just been our rock all year and the guy we could just rely on.”
The reality of JUCO is that Barhayiga’s LRSC career is winding down. With four games left in the season, he’s yet to commit to a school or nail down his next opportunity. But he plays under the faith that it’s coming. And with his recent performance, he’s doing everything he can to create the best opportunity possible.
“I just want to play the highest level of basketball I can, bro,” Barhayiga said, “and reach my full potential of basketball, whatever level that is. It’s been a challenge; a lot of people shut down on JUCO and think JUCO is just JUCO. But there’s a lot of dogs out there. It’s a real building step. I feel like JUCO was the best step for me… As a man, it makes you grow.”
Literally “blessed” with talent, as his first name implies, Barhayiga doesn’t have much left to prove before moving on. The next challenge is waiting for him, whatever and wherever that happens to be. But right now, all he can do is keep playing well and try to help his teammates finish the season on a positive note.
And perhaps when it’s all said and done, he will have left a legacy of Blessed.
“My dad chose the name. I take it as a blessing that I’m named Blessed,” Barhayiga said. “I feel like my name carries on through what I do. I’m also very Christian, so I feel like it’s just a blessing to be named Blessed. I see myself as a blessing, and I guess my parents saw me as a blessing. I really like the name for myself, and I hope to live up to it.”
Joseph “Mojo” Hill is a reporter covering Lake Region sports for the Devils Lake Journal. Contact him on Twitter @mojohill22 or at jhill@devilslakejournal.com for any tips, questions or story ideas.
