Freshman Forward Starring For Sharks

Tyriek Weeks is accustomed to starring on the basketball court.

During three years at Pilgrim High School in Warwick, Rhode Island, he averaged 20.4 points and 17.4 rebounds per game.

This season, the 19-year-old freshman at Miami Dade College has continued to flex his muscle.

The six-foot-six-inch power forward is leading the Sharks in scoring—18 points a game—and grabbing 9.2 rebounds per contest while shooting 42.1 percent from three-point range through nine games.

In a three game stretch in early November, Weeks scored 27 points versus Coahoma Community College, 24 points versus East Mississippi Community College and 26 points against Albany Technical College.

“He’s a competitor, high IQ, rebounds and he makes shots,” said Sharks assistant coach Dillon “DJ” Jenkins. 

Weeks scored more than 1,000 points during his high school career and averaged a double-double in every game his last two seasons.

As a senior, he was named the Rhode Island Player of the Year by MaxPreps. Last year, he averaged 18.3 points and 9.5 rebounds in limited action—three games—due to a hip injury during a postgraduate season at Springfield Commonwealth Academy in Boston, Massachusetts.  

The Sharks pursued Weeks this summer after a colleague told head coach Jorge Fernandez and assistant coach Dillon “DJ” Jenkins that he would be a good fit for the program. They were intrigued with his ability to stretch the floor with his shooting and knew his length allows him to guard any position on the court so they offered him their last scholarship this summer.

Weeks learned the game when he was three years old under the tutelage of his dad—Tyrone Weeks Sr.—who was a forward at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst from 1994 to 1998. Weeks Sr., who scored 1,013 career points and grabbed 858 rebounds for the Minutemen, has also served as an assistant coach at St. Bonaventure University and Marist College in New York, the University of Rhode Island and as an operations coordinator at the University of Memphis under John Calipari.

His older brother, Tyrone Weeks Jr., is a six-foot-four inch guard at UMass, who averaged 9.6 points and 4.8 rebounds for the Minutemen last season.

To continue his family’s basketball lineage, Weeks put in work this summer to improve his game, upgrading his ball handling and drives to the basket to add another weapon to his multifaceted scoring arsenal. It worked. Weeks has scored in double figures in all nine games this season for the Sharks.  

“He’s like a guard,” said Weeks’ older brother, Tyrone. “He can shoot, he can post up, he has mid-range [shot], a three and he’s really strong.” 

Weeks explosiveness has made him a strong duo with fellow freshman, Jamichael Stillwell, a six-foot-seven-inch forward from Atlanta, Georgia, who is averaging 15.4 points and team-leading 9.6 rebounds per game this season.   

“When we are on the court, we’re like [Stephen] Curry and Klay Thompson,” Stillwell said, comparing himself and Weeks to the Golden State Warrior teammates who have won four National Basketball Association Championships.

But despite the tandem’s success, the Sharks have struggled this season without point guard Abdias “Speedy” Carcamo who has not appeared in a game due to an Achilles tendon injury. 

The Sharks have missed his ball handling and shooting, losing five of their first nine games including a 29-point loss to Daytona State College on Nov. 12. Carcamo is expected to return to the lineup in late November. 

Forwards Ibrahim Wattara, Stephen Augustine and Jamichael Stillwell and guard Elijah Hoard have also missed games this season with an assortment of injuries.  

Despite the setbacks, Weeks believes the Sharks are poised for a run at the state title. 

“I love my teammates,” Tyriek Weeks said. “I love the atmosphere. I love everything about this group.”

The Sharks next game is at home versus Florida National University’s Junior Varsity team on Nov. 22 at 7 p.m. at the Theodore R. Gibson Health Center, 11011 S.W. 104 St.

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