Lucas at Large: Ford’s back with bright outlook
December 05, 2018 | Men's Basketball, Mike Lucas, Varsity Magazine
Versatile forward feeling confident after returning from knee injury
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BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — When Aleem Ford rolls out of bed each morning, there's no shortage of energy and motivation in his downtown campus apartment thanks in part to his roommates, who also happen to be his teammates: D'Mitrik Trice, a coach's kid; and Brad Davison, a coach's dream.
"Being around those positive guys," Ford said, "definitely has an effect."
The Ford-Trice friendship dates back to their season together at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida where they expanded their post-high school resumes opening the recruiting door to Wisconsin. Ford and Trice were roomies last year and they've since brought Davison into their mix.
Told that Davison's ebullient persona almost seems to good to be true, Ford grinned and said, "That's just how he is. It's not like he has a fake personality. He's always happy, always positive; he always has a bright outlook on everything. He's always good to be around. Same thing with Meech."
Trice's nickname is Meech. Call him clutch. He played for his dad, Travis, Sr., in Huber Heights, Ohio. Trice has already made some timely 3s and gotten off to a blazing start after missing all but the first 10 games of his sophomore year with a foot injury that resulted in a medical hardship waiver (The NCAA restored Trice's eligibility for the full season).
In Monday night's 69-64 win over Rutgers at the Kohl Center, Trice had 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field, 2-of-2 from beyond the arc. Through nine games, he's leading the Big Ten with his 3-point shooting (30-of-50, .600). Overall, he's averaging 17 points.
"He has taken a huge leap and I'm proud of him," Ford said. "It's based on the work that he put in this summer and the confidence that he has coming back off the injury. (Trice's shot) looks really good, and I guess that it's just going to get better from here as his confidence continues to grow."
A year ago, Ford made his own leap from toiling on the UW scout team in practice and redshirting as a true freshman to starting 20 of 33 games. "It was definitely different from watching from the side," he said, "to actually getting out there and being able to experience it for yourself."
After averaging 24 minutes and 6 points per game (41 percent on 3-pointers), Ford reflected, "Now that I was able to have a year of playing experience under my belt, it was a confidence booster — like you know what you're getting into — so I was able to prepare better this offseason."
His first exposure to the rigors of the Big Ten underscored the importance of physical development. "There are a lot of big guys and I have to play a little undersized at the 4-position sometimes," he said. "Strength and gaining weight were the things I was trying to focus on."
Last March, the 6-foot-8 Ford weighed 208 pounds. After huddling with strength and conditioning coordinator Erik Helland, he realized that he couldn't afford to skip meals, starting with breakfast and continuing throughout the day with snacks and protein shakes complementing lunch and dinner.
"The main thing," Ford said, "was making sure not to miss any meals."
He also had to pay closer attention to what he was eating.
"I did change my approach with fast food," he said, "trying not to eat that too much."
It entailed moderation and fewer trips to Culver's for butter burgers and tenders, he admitted.
"I put on a little more than 10 pounds," said Ford, who got up to 222 by the end of summer. "Being able to have that (additional) strength benefited me in all aspects of my game — other than shooting — and I had more confidence going to the rim and being able to guard bigger guys."
Postgame locker room: LOUD NOISES‼️ 🗣🔈🔉🔊 #OnWisconsin // #Badgers
— Wisconsin Basketball (@BadgerMBB) November 30, 2018
Everything was falling into place nicely. Or so it seemed. In late October, during a closed scrimmage against Iowa State, Ford was the leading scorer with 19 points. A few days later in practice, he said, "We were doing some drills and I took an awkward step" and immediately reached for his knee.
The pain felt similar to a previous meniscus injury to his other knee. "It was out of my control at that point and I just tried to have a positive outlook," said Ford, who had surgery on Oct 31. "They told me the injury could be four to six weeks (to rehab) depending on how I reacted to it.
"When I first found out the news, I was, of course, bummed out. But there was nothing I could do about it except work to get back to where I was and try to get better. The surgery went well, my knee handled it well, Coach E (Helland) pushed me in the weight room and Henry took good care of me."
Henry is Henry Perez-Guerra, the basketball team's athletic trainer.
Three weeks after surgery, Ford came off the bench and played seven minutes against Stanford in the opening game of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament on Paradise Island, Bahamas. Ford, who was on a pitch count, then logged four and three minutes against Oklahoma and Virginia, respectively.
"My knee itself felt fine," said Ford, whose length allows him to swing between the wing and power forward. "It was just a little different getting back out there with the speed of the game. I definitely felt the difference from where I was before the injury to where I was at the moment."
During his injury rehab, Ford got support from his parents back home in Lawrenceville, Georgia, 30 miles from Atlanta. He recalled that they buoyed his spirits by advising him, "Everything happens for a reason and all I can do is push myself to get better — have a good outlook and not mope about it."
Trice and Davison, who had offseason surgery on his shoulder, kept it positive around the apartment. "They told me that I would be back before I knew it and I'd be stronger," Ford recounted. "They tried to make me look at the bright side of things."
After missing his first two shots against North Carolina State, Ford was still looking for his first field goal of the young season. When he finally hit a first triple, he drained three more. "Seeing that first shot go in," said Ford, who finished with 12 points, "I felt like the basket opened up a little bit."
And, yet, he'd be the first to say that he's still trying to "get back into the swing of things." Ford got into foul trouble at Iowa and was on the floor for only 11 minutes. Against Rutgers, he played 20 minutes and made just one of five shots (four of them 3-pointers) though he did have four rebounds.
By his own admission, he needs "more minutes, more practices" to knock off the rust. "I just need to be out there playing the game," said Ford who knows his role. "I want to bring energy and scoring production off the bench. I want to be able to come in and not let there be a drop-off.
"I was feeling pretty confident before the injury."
Pause.
"And I'm still pretty confident now in doing everything I would like to do."
Still young, still learning, still growing, still maturing. Not unlike this team.
