When you’re 7 feet tall, it’s hard to fit in anywhere, even if you’re a gifted basketball player with excellent athletic ability and an enormous wingspan.
James Ellis knows this better than just about anybody. A Larimer native and former star at old Westinghouse High School, Ellis’ college basketball journey has included lots of windy roads, sharp turns and detours. Ellis could have broken down already and given up, but instead continues to refuel and keep zoning in on his personal GPS, believing that sooner or later he would find the perfect fit.
Well, Ellis now believes he has.
And it has come in, of all places, the Sooner State.
Since July, Ellis has lived in Langston, Okla., continuing his education while working toward his dream of becoming a professional basketball player. Ellis attends Langston University, an NAIA school about 40 miles north of Oklahoma City. Langston is the only historically Black college and university (HBCU) in Oklahoma.
“I think a lot of people in his situation would have given up and quit playing a long time ago,” said Chris Wright, Langston’s first-year head coach. “It says a lot about how hungry he is. He wants to graduate and get his college degree, but also chase his dream of playing professionally.”
Langston is having a dream season as Wright, who guided Talladega College in Alabama to the NAIA title game a season ago, has helped engineer the biggest turnaround in college basketball. After going 1-27 last season, the Lions are 22-2 and ranked No. 3 in NAIA. The Lions replaced all five starters and returned only one player from the previous team. Wright brought in several players who once played at Division I schools, among them Ellis, who spent his first two seasons at Duquesne.
“It’s amazing,” said Ellis, a junior. “Before the season, people didn’t think we’d do this. We had a lot of on-campus events trying to get people amped up and letting us know we’re here. When we won our second game [thus surpassing last season’s win total], we started to see a lot of support.”
At Langston, Ellis has gotten a lot of support, as well. Ellis, 22, said it has been an eye-opener attending an HBCU, and an increased focus has paid off on not only the court but also in the classroom. Ellis, who had struggled academically in the past, said he is most proud of his 3.0 grade-point average. Ellis already has an associate’s degree in psychology and is pursuing his bachelor’s degree in health and physical education.
“It’s completely different,” Ellis said of being a student at an HBCU. “It definitely gives you a different perspective on life and helps you make yourself better.”
Ellis, who said he has a wingspan of 7 feet, 8 inches, believes he’s becoming a better player, too. In 14 games (10 starts), Ellis is averaging 8.7 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.8 blocks. He’s also shooting 61% from the field. Ellis missed the team’s first 10 games after being ruled ineligible in the fall semester for academic reasons.
“Just with his size and his length, he affects a lot,” Wright said. “He’s a good shot-blocker. When he’s dialed in, he can be absolutely dominant at our level. I think he has a tremendous skill level. He can step outside and shoot the 3 and he can shoot mid-range jumpers. But I really want him to dominate in the paint for us. I think his upside is huge.”
Wright said he also has players who previously played at Division I schools St. Joseph’s, Central Connecticut State, Buffalo and Nicholls State. One of Langston’s two losses came at Division I Missouri-Kansas City by only 15 points.
“If we’re going to try to win a national title, we have to have Division I-level guys,” Wright said.
Ellis was once one of those guys. After a tremendous senior season (2017-18) at Westinghouse in which he averaged 21 points, 12 rebounds and 7 blocks per game, Ellis became the first Westinghouse graduate to play at Duquesne since Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Chuck Cooper, who the school’s gymnasium now is named after him. But Ellis never found his groove at Duquesne. He redshirted his first season and played in only five games and 11 minutes total the next.
So, Ellis decided to transfer in the spring of 2020. Within hours of first putting his name in the portal, Ellis committed to Tallahassee Community College in Florida. But Ellis never made it to Tallahassee, saying that he and the program decided to go separate ways. Ellis didn’t play at all in the 2020-21 season.
Ellis resurfaced last season at the Community College of Beaver County. He played well there, too, averaging 12.7 points and 7.4 rebounds a game.
It was around then when Wright first heard about Ellis and began recruiting him.
“One of my good friends is a former Division I assistant. He stumbled across James and sent me his highlight video and contact video when he found out James wouldn’t be able to go back [to CCBC] for academic reasons. We knew he had quite a bit of academic work to do, but he passed all of his summer classes and is doing very well academically,” Wright said.
The academic progress is the biggest development in Ellis’ growth. Difficulties in that area have played a part in him relocating — or at least planning to relocate — so frequently. He originally was supposed to attend Allegany, a junior college in Maryland, upon graduating from high school, but was unable to do so because of classroom struggles. Ellis said that a problem with his transcript led to the issue at CCBC.
“He’s on track to graduate from here,” Wright said. “He was at Duquesne for two years and just didn’t get a lot of minutes there. For him, to get to where he wants to go, he’s been playing big minutes and producing for a team that is nationally ranked. I think he sees the positives in that.”
Prior to choosing Langston, Ellis said he was receiving interest from Division I schools Coppin State and Jackson State, as well as Dillard, an NAIA school in Louisiana.
Ellis, who will turn 23 April 11, still will have one year of eligibility remaining beyond this season. And while he is keeping his eye on the ultimate prize of one day becoming a pro, for now, Ellis is simply focused on the present and not the future.
“We’re going to make a run in the conference and national tournament and show people what we’re capable of,” he said. “I just want to get my job done correctly. I just want to make sure I get through this season and make sure I do better at my job. I’ll have no issues coming back here.”
Brad is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at beverett@unionprogress.com.