Battalion/Page 15
February 1, 1982
Jack Worthington
Freshman has stabilized Horns’ backcourt
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6-3, U
Freshman guard Jack Worthington of the
University of Texas, averaging eight points
photo by Greg Watennann
a game, moves downcourt during the Lon
ghorns’ 71-69 loss Saturday to Texas A&M.
by Frank L. Christlieb
Sports Editor
Jack Worthington says it
wasn’t hard for him to decide
where to attend college.
The freshman guard, who en
tered the Texas Longhorns’
starting lineup during their
second game of the season, has
found transition from high
school to college easier than he’d
anticipated. After graduating
from Spring High School,
where he led the Lions to a 32-7
record his senior year, Worth
ington has found that UT has all
the answers he’s been looking
for.
“Before I came here,” Worth
ington says, “they told me I had
a good chance to play a lot, and
I’ve worked hard to get where I
am. I feel real comfortable with
the system here. I’m not as com
fortable as I was when (Mike)
Wacker was in there, though.”
Worthington was referring to
former UT starting forward
Wacker, who will sit out the rest
of the season after sustaining a
serious knee injury in the Lon
ghorn’s 69-59 loss to Baylor last
week. Without Wacker’s 16
points and 10 rebounds a game,
Texas has become an incom
plete team.
“We’re not the same team
without Wacker,” Worthington
said. “With him and LaSalle
(Thompson), we were really
tough inside.”
Worthington visited only two
universities — Texas and the
University of Missouri — before
deciding upon UT.
“I visited Missouri, but I really
didn’t think they supported
their athletics that well,” Worth
ington said. “They’re ranked
number one in the nation, but
they don’t get the support that
UT does.
“The crowd here really gets
me going — it really fires me up.
We have some really good fans.
Everyone’s so high on athletics
here at UT and they’re really
great.”
Worthington, a well-
disguised version of a basketball
player, stands 6-2 and weighs
only 160 pounds. For that
reason, he usually avoids the
Longhorns’ bigger opponents
by shooting from the perimeter
and by handing out assists.
During his high school senior
year, Worthington averaged
27.1 points a game and scored
30 or more points in 16 games.
With his father, Jack Worthing
ton Sr., as his high school coach
and personal adviser, the UT
freshman has had an advantage
over other young basketball
players.
“My dad has really helped me
in developing my game,”
Worthington said. “He’s the guy
that made me practice and work
on fundamentals and skills.”
And Worthington has found
it easy to set priorities in his new
college life.
“I was just an average student
in high school,” Worthington
said. “I was more interested in
basketball than school, but in
college, it’s different. You have
to forget about sports and con
centrate on studying.”
Worthington has progressed
a great deal since he started
playing basketball in third grade
in Clear Lake City. After leading
the Spring Lions in scoring
three of his four high school sea
sons, Worthington was sought
by several colleges for his shoot
ing and defensive abilities.
Worthington suffered torn
ligaments in his foot last spring,
then injured an ankle two weeks
before the Longhorns’ season
started. However, UT Coach
Abe Lemons saw enough talent
in Worthington to move him
into the starting lineup when the
Longhorns played the Universi
ty of Colorado in the season’s
second game.
Worthington’s performance
in that game, in which he scored
eight points and made only
three of nine field goal attempts,
didn’t attract any attention. But
since that game, Worthington
has strengthened the UT back-
court with solid ball-handling
and a a scoring average of eight
points a game.
Worthington attributes to one
source his success and his desire
to play basketball.
“It’s got to be my relationship
with the Lord,” Worthington
said. “I’m a Christian and I feel
this is what he wants me to do.
He’s given me this talent and I
feel I should use it.
“I’d like to play after I get out
of college, but I’m more serious
about studying now, and if play
ing in the pros comes, then I’ll
worry about it when it does.”
Worthington, majoring in
business at UT, has taken 15
hours each of his first two semes
ters at the university. Taking
that many hours and playing
basketball would seem to make
life hectic, but Worthington says
his interest in studying will over
come the difficulty of the
courses.
Worthington played poorly in
his team’s 71-69 overtime loss
Saturday to Texas A&M, but
he’s not an athlete who dwells on
his bad performances. After hit
ting only one of seven field
goals, Worthington had only
praise for the Aggies.
“We had always heard that
they had a good inside game, but
we didn’t know they could shoot
so well outside,” Worthington
said. “They’ve got a good com
bination out there right now
(with starting guards Reggie
Roberts, Tyren Naulls and Mil-
ton Woodley).
“All those guys are real good.
They’re all great shooters and
penetrators.”
Worthington said the Lon
ghorns have will have to struggle
to remain in the thick of the con
ference race, and that a replace
ment for Wacker must be found
right away.
1
■ones back
at A&M
knee
•VAVto
^operation
Plexus A&M forward Roy
Jones, who suffered torn knee
ligaments in the Aggies’ 68-59
win over Rice jan. 23, returned
Sunday to the University after a
F 47 week-long hospital stay.
■After having his right knee
niAfTperated on Tuesday at the
)n Iklliylor Hospital in Dallas, Jones
j22-lCteft Dallas wearing a leg cast,
whieh he will wear for several
weeks. He said Sunday that he is
^having a hard lime moving
around on crutches, which he
has never used.
■Jones, who watched from his
hospital bed the Aggies’ 71-69
victory Saturday over the Texas
Longhorns, said: “It (not being
able to part icipate with the team)
kills me. 1 watched the game and
; feally wished I was out there.”
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