Why Caleb Asberry is comfortable with Oklahoma State as he returns to home to face Texas
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AUSTIN, Texas — Tyrone Jones still marvels at the memory.
His 5-year-old son has a toy basketball in his hands. He’s standing a few feet from the Fisher Price basketball goal inside their Pflugerville, Texas, home. He’s making shot after shot.
“It was magical, man,” Jones said. “You could see it.”
Even as a little tike, Caleb Asberry had potential.
Shot after shot. Make after make.
A love for the game developed quite early. Asberry rarely let go of that basketball.
“I remember basically holding that little orange ball in my hands all day like it never left my side,” Asberry said.
That was the first sign to Jones that Asberry would be different.
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That old goal was eventually switched out for an electronic Nerf goal until Asberry and his younger brother were too big and forced to a new goal outside. But Jones will think of the first goal Tuesday night.
His son will play on the biggest stage in front of 20 or more friends and family near his hometown.
When surging Oklahoma State faces 10th-ranked Texas late Tuesday night in the new Moody Center, Asberry will be just 20 minutes from home, and he will be against a team he rooted for as a child.
Now, he’s a dynamic sixth-man for the Cowboys making a huge difference as a transfer super-senior for a veteran team finding its way.
“I feel like I could be anywhere else,” Asberry said. “Magically, I landed at Oklahoma State and I get to play probably one of my dream schools. It’s a blessing.”
Asberry, a 6-foot-3 guard, averages 8.1 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 24.4 minutes per game. He’s made a team-best 12 3-pointers over the past five games.
And he’s been a revelation defensively, playing lock-down defense on the perimeter and showing an athleticism that allows him to block shots.
“He plays with a chip on his shoulder,” OSU coach Mike Boynton said. “He believes he should have been at this level his whole career. He wants to in those games and environments show that he’s as good as anybody else on the court.”
At Pflugerville High, he was largely unrecruited. Jones attributed it partially due to a late start on the AAU circuit. Only NAIA schools and junior colleges offered scholarships.
“Dealing with it was kinda tough,” Asberry said, “because let’s be honest, every athlete dreams to play at the Division I level and when that didn’t happen, I was crushed but I never showed it."
So, Asberry bet on himself. He went to Ranger (Texas) College to play for Billy Gillispie.
It was there that Asberry learned the importance of an all-around game.
Asberry thought a junior college coach wouldn’t care about defense. Gillispie, though, stressed the importance. It’s all that mattered to the veteran coach.
“I didn’t even care about defense," Asberry said. "Ever since I left Ranger, that’s been on my mind is defense. That’s how you play.”
After one season, Asberry transferred to Texas State, where he played for another defense-first coach — Danny Kaspar — for a season. After Kaspar resigned, Asberry played the next three seasons for Terrence Johnson and improved more as a defender while becoming an All-Sun Belt First Team selection last season.
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“I think it actually worked out best for us,” Jones said about the journey.
But Asberry wanted to prove he could play at the highest level.
He entered the transfer portal. OSU was quickly on him. Texas showed interest, though it was only heavy after Asberry started to focus on the Cowboys. But Asberry never felt comfortable with the Longhorns, even though they feature two former Austin-area opponents in Dylan Disu and Brock Cunningham.
“I felt like I didn’t get respect going there,” he said. “I felt like they weren’t truthful of who they were going to be. I felt like here it was a better opportunity.”
Jones and his wife, Mildred Asberry, immediately noticed a change in their son.
He was the farthest from home he had ever been. He started answering the phone faster. He talked longer and more openly with his family. He became more independent.
And he matured.
“Look, dude’s got some muscles,” Jones told his wife last summer.
Asberry immediately made an impact with his defense. His shooting ability has been needed as well.
And though he missed two games in December with an illness, he’s quickly made his presence felt in Big 12 play. He’s averaged 8.3 points (fourth on the team) and 4.6 rebounds (second). He’s also had just six turnovers.
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Lately, he’s been coming into his own.
He inbounded a pass off the back of OU’s Grant Sherfield late in last week’s Bedlam win. He also had a massive alley-oop dunk against the Sooners. He’s been unafraid to take big shots in big moments. He’s gotten more vocal as a leader.
“His aggressiveness sometimes has hurt us, whether it be not really focusing on executing our plays or fouling unnecessarily too far away from the basket,” Boynton said. “But there’s got to be a certain level of courage that you got to play this game with, and he certainly plays with a great deal of courage.
“I think part of it comes from he’s been really, really well coached. He’s got sound fundamentals as well.”
Asberry is ready to show that to his hometown.
He played Texas once at Texas State, getting blown out in Austin. This time, he has a chance to win.
“It’s going to be fun mainly because I got recruited by them too out of the portal,” Asberry said. “That and it’s always good being home.”
Jacob Unruh covers college sports for The Oklahoman. You can send your story ideas to him at junruh@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @jacobunruh. Support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.
How to watch Oklahoma State vs. Texas
TIPOFF: 8 p.m. Tuesday at Moody Center in Austin, Texas (LHN)
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma State's Caleb Asberry feels at home with Cowboys in Big 12
