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Nicolas Louis-Jacques is from Miami. September and October morning temperatures that sit in the 50s in New England are not something he is accustomed to, nor particularly fond of.
“This cold is killing me,” he said before defeatedly shaking his head at the reminder that it gets a lot colder in these parts soon enough.
While the weather may not have been to his liking, everything else seems to be going well for Louis-Jacques, one of Putnam Science Academy’s 13 new prep basketball players.
The 6-foot, 5-inch guard has impressed in the first month or so of individual and team workouts, showing off the deep shooting range he was known for, and also earning the program’s first “Horse Collar” award of the season, given to the toughest all-around player in the gym each week.
“It’s been really good,” said Louis-Jacques, whose parents are from Haiti. “It gets really competitive, everybody is going at it. And everybody here can play at a high level so you’ve got bring it every day. It’s just going to get you better, quicker. Nothing bad could come out of this at all. It was a great opportunity that I had to take.
“That’s why I wanted to come here. I didn’t really have offers from (colleges) I felt like really fit me, so when I decided I was going to do a prep year, I wanted to go to a serious prep. Here, every single day, you’re going to compete. You’re going at it every single day with really good players, with great players. You have to bring you’re A-game every day. It’s time to perfect my game as much as I can, and PSA is the place for me to do that.”
It is paying off in the early going of the preseason. Despite the irregularities caused by Coivd-19 that are limiting workouts and the preventing college coaches from seeing him in-person, a number of schools such as George Mason, Holy Cross, UNC Charlotte, and Marist, have reached out to Louis-Jacques just since the Mustangs started working out.
Louis-Jacques, 18, is known for his shooting. Off the dribble, coming off screens, catch-and-shoot, off the triple-threat, you name it, he believes every shot is going in. It’s something that he says “comes easy” to him, but added there was a lot of work put into it.
“I had a really good trainer back home and he just taught me how to shoot,” Louis-Jacques said. “We started off close to the basket and just slowly worked our way out. It was every day. I was just getting up a lot of shots. It’s mechanics and confidence. I don’t even think about missing a shot.”
Said PSA associate head coach Josh Scraba: “I think in a non-COVID year, with all the open gyms we would normally have, I think he’d be getting high-major looks. He’s not just a shooter. He can create his own shot, he can get to the rim, he can finish in a number of ways. Wherever he ends up, that coaching staff is going to be really happy because they’re going to get a real good player.”
Stephen Nalbandian
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy
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