Fresno State Athletics
Nick at Night
1/31/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 31, 2000
FRESNO, Calif. - The day passes, the sun begins to set and the Bulldogs head for Selland Arena. It's time for some Bulldog basketball. As Fresno State fans across the Valley are pulling any shade of red from their closets and loading their cars to make the pilgrimage to the arena, Bulldog Nick Irvin is lacing his glossy white court shoes preparing for the show.
Straying from the team shoe, Irvin sports the plain white mid that can easily reflect the black magic marker names inscribed along the panels. The names, Irvin said, represent each of his family members.
"It motivates me," Irvin said. "My brothers, my sister, my five month-old nephew, my mother and father, my grandmother and my two best friends are on them. Every time I come out on the floor everyone can admire the names on my shoes."
No one else dressed for the game in the arena can say that. Maybe it is the shoes, maybe it is the support that Irvin gets from his family dancing down the court with him, or maybe it is sheer talent. Whatever it is Irvin is finding the holes, stooping defenders and dishing to teammates under the basket like no one on the Bulldog line-up can.
"He sees people on the court better than anybody we have on the team," head coach Jerry Tarkanian said. "He has a good understanding of the game in part because he grew up in a basketball family."
It all goes back to his family. Irvin, the youngest of six follows a long tradition of excellence beginning with dad, Mac Irvin, who has made a career of coaching basketball. Then, Irvin's older brothers made their mark on the basketball scene. Two have played basketball professionally and another followed dad's footprints in coaching. Byron Irvin, Nick's older brother was drafted in the first round in 1989 and played for the Portland Trailblazers before turning to a career in coaching. Mac Irvin went to the CBA and Lance is a coach like dad.
Now, Nick, a sophomore at Fresno State, is continuing the excellence using his family as a sounding board.
"I'm really close with my family," Irvin said. "I try to call home every night. There are six of us all together and I try to call my four brothers and sister everyday."
Pooling the basketball knowledge and advice of his family, Irvin said his cool, confident and jester-like demeanor on the court comes from years of observing his brothers and learning from his basketball savvy father.
"I remember watching my brothers play and seeing how they were always loose and having fun and my father told me to have fun every time I get on the court," Irvin said. "I try to crack a lot of jokes out there and talk to everybody to keep them loose. That's my job as a point guard." It is also his job, he said, to get the ball in his teammates hands. Irvin can be heard from the sidelines yelling "knock it down" after passing the rock off to the Bulldog of choice poised on the three-point line.
"They know that when I have the ball they are going to get it. I try to push it up and get a lot of assists," Irvin said.
The energy and pizzazz he brings to the court is what sets him apart, but the Bulldog did not always have it so easy.
"He's confident and a good shooter, but the problem he's had here is that he was out of basketball for two years before and got really out of shape and gained some weight," Tarkanian said. "Now he's losing that weight and he's getting into shape. He has a lot of ability and tremendous quickness."
Irvin's hard work to regain his speed and agility is paying off. Irvin is averaging almost twenty minutes a game as the sixth man coming off the bench and his seemingly impossible passes continue to dazzle onlookers as he connects with Bulldogs to his right, to his left, and the definite crowd-pleaser, the dish behind. His to date success is not enough for the smiling Bulldog. He is just getting started.
"I haven't really been playing hard and I'm going to turn it around now by working harder every day," Irvin said.
So as night falls upon Selland Arena and fans fill the seats yet again, the starting five are introduced with a roar from the crowd. Irvin meets each of his starting teammates at the end of the team tunnel with a high-five, a hug, a chest bump and a motivational smile knowing that his chance to play ball is only a substitution away.
