Mocs Guard Johnathan Burroughs-Cook Adding More High Speed to Gig City
Chattanooga-(WDEF) It only makes sense that Mocs guard Johnathan Burroughs-Cook is playing in the Gig City because he’s a high-speed guy. The junior college transfer might be one of the fastest players in the collegiate ranks.
When Johnathan Burroughs Cook enters the game, Coach McCall feels like he has hit the turbo boost button.
Said McCall: "They’re so keyed-in on (Greg) Pryor and all of the sudden, he comes in the game off the bench with that kind of speed. It just gives us a different dimension to our team"
Greg Pryor was teammates with Cook in high school, and Pryor says Cook picked up a neat nickname.
Said Pryor: "The only nickname he picked up was ‘Casino’. We called him ‘Casino’ in ninth grade, our freshman year, because he was so fast he gambled a lot on defense."
Chuckles Cook: "The nickname ‘Casino’ came from my freshman year at Kirby because I used to just try and gamble. Try to get every steal. I was so fast, I’d just try to get every steal."
McCall doesn’t want to see Cook go full Casino, but a little more defensive pressure would be nice.
McCall: "You’ve gotta be able to use your speed on both sides of the floor. You’re so electric and so explosive offensively. Use that speed on the defensive end of the floor when you’re trying to guard some of the better guards in our conference."
Cook loves to use that speed and explode to the basket.
Cook: "All the other defenders, I’ll get them in foul trouble because I’m so fast, and it’s so hard to stay in front of me. I try and use that to my advantage to get to the free throw line."
Cook made his Mocs debut in UTC’s season opener against Georgia. Hello SEC. Cook scored 23-points.
Said McCall: "You know this is the first time in his career at the Division One level that he’s had a significant role on a team. He keeps getting better and better. We’re really fortunate we’ve got him not only this year but for another year as well."
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