Senior guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie (3) and the Greeneville Greene Devils took on the Jackson South Side Hawks in the TSSAA Class 3A state championship at Murphy Center on Saturday, March 19, 2022, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The Greeneville boys won 77-48. (Photo by Danny Parker)
BY JESSE SMITHEY
Ja’Kobi Gillespie, the point guard who lifted Greeneville High School basketball to new heights, will get the chance to put his game to the test in the Big Ten Conference next season.
Gillespie announced on social media Wednesday that he will be transferring from Belmont to Maryland.
The 6-foot-1, 180-pound sophomore averaged 17.2 points, 4.2 assists and 3.8 rebounds per game for the Bruins during the 2023-24 season. He shot 38.7 percent from the 3-point line and averaged more than 31 minutes played per contest.
He earned All-Missouri Valley Conference honors, which shocked no one in East Tennessee.
Gillespie was a two-time 5Star Preps Player of the Year while at Greeneville.
He helped the Greene Devils win state titles in 2021 and 2022. Gillespie was tournament MVP in both years.
And, he won Class 3A Mr. Basketball as a senior in 2022.
As a freshman at Belmont, he played 22.2 minutes per game and averaged 9.6 points per game, as Belmont then boasted Ben Sheppard — whom the Indiana Pacers selected late in the first round of the 2023 NBA Draft.
But with Sheppard gone for the 2023-24 season, Gillespie took center stage for Belmont. That spotlight certainly allowed his skillset to be seen more.
Gillespie entered the transfer portal March 15.
He told Joe Tipton of On3Sports.com on Wednesday, March 27, that he chose Maryland over Florida, Virginia and Oklahoma.
Also headed to the Big Ten Conference is Jahvin Carter, a senior point guard at Alcoa — whose prep career very much mirrored that of Gillespie’s. Carter signed with Penn State. He led the Tornadoes to two state titles (2023, 2024), won two finals MVPs and was named Mr. Basketball as a senior.
Maryland and Penn State played each other twice during the 2023-24 season.