Prospect Spotlight: Riley Demps (2018)
Riley Demps really did it all for his team at Isidore Newman this past season. But this isn’t all that rare. Every team has a best player. What separates Riley from the rest of the pack is just how efficient he is on the court.
Normally when you are the best player, defenses key in on you, and as a result your field goal percentage drops. However, that wasn’t the case with Riley Demps. The 6’1 combo guard averaged 20 points per game on a team that only averaged 51 points per game. He somehow did that while still averaging 50% from the field and an impressive 43% from the field.
Riley takes pride in his ability to be effecient, and gives his coach credit. “I grew a lot as a player, as I took a new role this year. Coach Tilette did a good job of helping me get to a place where I could be an effecient scorer while still playing good defense on the other end.”
As far as growth, he says that the biggest difference between this season and last year was ball handing and play making. “When you don’t have to worry about turning it over with missed dribbles, it’s much easier to see the floor and make good passes. I’m more of a combo guard than I was before.”
However, Riley realizes that his development is far from over. “I think that every part of my game can be fine tuned to be more complete. All I want is to make sure that I am a compete player that can play both guard positions on both ends effeciently in college.”
He is going to have the opportunity to show coaches his skill set against much tougher competition this summer, as he is going to be playing with Nola23, who will be competing in the Nike open division for the first time this season. There is no doubt in my mind that he won’t be shying away from any competition.
As far as recruiting goes, he says that he wants to keep things close to the vest, but he expects to make a decision for where he is going by the end of the summer. One thing is for certain, it is that he is going to be able to take his pick of where he goes, academically. He is rocking a 3.4 GPA and scored a 1370 on the SAT. He hasn’t taken the ACT yet, but he is scheduled to take it in early April. On the plus side, on the practice ACT he scored a 30, so something tells me not to worry. With that advanced of a mind, it is no wonder the things he is capable of doing on the court.