Eastern Oregon University student, Jordan Gregg, managed to make it through summer many miles away from his home and family thanks to the game of basketball.
The former Mountaineer basketball standout not only played semi-professional basketball over the summer, but dominated his competition. Gregg spent the summer playing basketball in the winter … in Australia.
Gregg spent the previous summer excelling in the International Basketball League, averaging 18 points and eight rebounds a contest. The Lewiston, Idaho native averaged 15 points and nine rebounds a game for Eastern Oregon in 2009-10, and was named an All-American for his efforts.
Well, Gregg’s numbers continued to climb. This past summer he averaged 30.2 points and 15.4 rebounds per outing while playing for the Lithgow Lazers. Lithgow is in New South Wales, 140 kilometers, or 86 miles, northwest of Sydney.
“The best thing about Australia was how hospitable everybody was,” Gregg said. “I mean I only had to worry about what I was going to make for dinner a couple nights a week and the rest of the time I was getting invited to someone’s house. I made some lifelong friends there and my team was like a great big family.”
Gregg played so well he was named the Most Valuable Player of the Waratah State League. His season-high point total of 54 points came against the second best team in Lithgow’s conference.
“The biggest difference in international ball is everyone is getting taller,” Gregg said. “I play a guard spot now that I'm out of college and I’ve played a couple guys that are the same height as me at the same position. I'm too small to play a post anymore. Also the key is NBA size and the three-point line is about a foot-and-a-half further back than the college three-point line.”
Gregg had a tryout for the National Basketball League, the top professional league in Australia, while the tryout went very well; he was not picked up at that time. Gregg enjoyed his time down under, but said there were difficult times as well.
“The hardest thing about being so far away is driving on the opposite side of the road and driving in the right side of the car,” Gregg said. “I think I turned on the windshield wipers instead of the blinker about 50 times before I finally got the hang of everything being opposite. I almost hit a few kangaroos when I was driving in the evenings too.
“Not being able to hang out with the people that I was always with was tough. I missed my friends and family a lot. My dad and stepmom came over in May and my mom and grandma came over in July so I got family in doses, but I really missed my little brothers the most.”
Gregg recently returned to the United States and will finish his degree at Eastern Oregon this year. He plans to continue to develop his skills and work with the Mountaineer basketball team and return to overseas basketball next summer.