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Justin’s time is now
BOWEN BLOSSOMS AS SENIOR
(as published in Whoosh! magazine Jan. 16, 2006)
Meet Justin Bowen, who just blew the roof of the joint after he capped off a personal six-point spurt in 25 seconds by jamming two consecutive runout dunks.
“I love to dunk,” said the 6-foot-7 senior forward. “It excites me, it excites the crowd. We like to give the fans something to cheer about.”
The consecutive dunks fueled an emotional run by UIC in a 76-67 victory over Davidson on Dec. 29.
Emotional is a proper adjective for Bowen, who lifts the team with his energy. His combination of a long, lanky body with loads of athleticism reminds fans of the Detroit Pistons’ Tayshaun Prince. Bowen also likens himself to the New Orleans Hornets’ Rasual Butler.
UIC coach Jimmy Collins saw how Bowen’s energy rubbed off on the team over the last two seasons and named him captain.
“He’s most the experienced player we had coming back,” Collins said. “He understands the system. He’s just a leader.
“Justin is a jovial guy. He’s pleasant to be around and never hard to talk to.”
Fastbreaks with Justin Bowen
On the run with senior forward from Marshall High School …
Favorite musical performer: “Jay-Z.”
Favorite TV show: “Martin. I can watch the re-runs over and over again. During the break, I was watching all the Christmas specials.”
Favorite food: “Tacos and chicken. I could eat chicken and tacos everyday.”
Best advice received: “Always put God first. My mom instilled the presence of God in my life.”
Favorite movies: “Friday and Coming to America.”
Something that you like to do that would surprise other people: “I like to write poetry. I try not show emotions of anger; I just try to write them down in poems.”
Favorite athlete: “Kobe Bryant.”
Best part of Chicago: “The downtown area. The whole atmosphere. There’s nothing like the Chicago skyline.”
Best part of UIC: “The atmosphere at the Pavilion.”
Best moment as a UIC Flame: “When we beat Milwaukee on their home floor to go to the NCAA tournament [in 2004].”
More on Bowen: He is good friends of current Duke guard and former Julian High School star Sean Dockery.
“We played AAU ball with the Illinois Fire," Bowen said. "I've known him since my freshman year at Marshall. We still talk from time to time.
“It was exciting [to play Dockery and Duke last year]. We talked a little trash with each other in the days leading up to the game, but I’m used to playing with him.”
“Everybody says I’m a little goofy for the most part, even when things seem hard, I try to be outgoing and make people laugh. Sometimes, during the game, Coach [Collins] will slam somebody and I’ll make a joke to get that smile out of them and make sure they’re still with us.”
Lately, Bowen has taken to flashing the pyramid symbol made famous recently by rapper Jay-Z.
“It gets me pumped,” said Bowen of emulating his favorite musician. “I’ve been doing it with teammates lately and it gets them pumped too.”
Bowen also gets much of his drive from home.
“I think I got my emotion from my ‘Pop [William Bowen].’ He rode me. He was always emotional around the house – in a good way. I feel that if you don’t show emotion, it’s hard to get the best out of yourself sometimes.”
While many believed that Elliott Poole would take up the scoring void that was created by the graduated Cedrick Banks, it was instead Bowen that took the reins of the team by storm.
Bowen has scored in double figures in 15 of 16 games this season and has five point-rebound double-doubles. He started the season with a 19-point effort against Montana State and twice recorded a career-high 23 points – against Georgia Southern and Davidson.
“Over the summer, Coach [Collins] and I had a lot of time to talk,” Bowen said. “He knew that I had experience and that we had a lot of new guys coming in.”
Finding basketball
As a youth, it was another talent that he captured Bowen’s interest – music. It took awhile for young Justin to discover basketball.
“Actually I was more into singing,” he said. “I used to sing in talent shows – that was my main thing. I really wasn’t into basketball. I started to really get into it when I watched the Bulls with [Michael] Jordan and [Scottie] Pippen.
Bowen’s interest started to shift toward basketball right around when he was in fifth grade.
Once Bowen reached high school – he attended Marshall on Chicago’s West side – basketball became a way of life. He teamed up with Ronald “Boo” Davis (now at Wisconsin-Milwaukee) and Kelly Whitney (now at Seton Hall) on the Commandos.
He knew Davis since elementary school and two used to live just blocks apart. Bowen also shared lunch period with Whitney, who was on the varsity as a freshman, while Bowen started out on the frosh-soph squad.
Once all three were together on varsity, Marshall became a dynamic team and one of the best in the Chicago Public League.
“It was exciting to play with those guys,” Bowen said. “All of us were exciting players, we all liked to dunk. We were always friends.”
“I known Justin for a long time,” said Davis, who has emerged as one of UWM’s top players this season. “We always get together during the summer.”
All three players – Bowen, Davis and Whitney – were recruited pretty hard, but it was Whitney that most college coaches were after. Even Collins admitted he was pushing the hardest for Whitney, who ended up signing with Michigan. (needed second dash after Whitney)
“We were recruiting Kelly Whitney harder,” Collins said. “I never thought Kelly was interested in staying home. Once we saw that, we backed off. We looked at Boo and Boo played well.”
One of the perks of playing at Marshall was receiving pep talks from Arthur Agee, who played with the Commandos in the early ’90s and was featured in critically-acclaimed documentary Hoop Dreams.
“I talked a lot to Arthur, because he used to come to a lot of our practices,” Bowen said. “Listening to him and with all the adversity he had as a teenager, it was very motivating.”
After a senior season that ended with a stunning loss to Morgan Park in the Public League quarterfinals, the three went their separate ways.
Whitney went to Michigan and eventually transferred to Seton Hall. Davis went to Olney Central Community College in Downstate Illinois for two years before heading to Milwaukee.
Meanwhile, Bowen, who averaged 21.5 points and 10 rebounds per game as a senior with the Commandos, was off to the East coast.
Shore leave
Bowen decided to attend Maryland-Eastern Shore and give himself a fresh start away from the rough-and-tumble West side.
“I really didn’t have strong guidance coming out of high school,” Bowen said. Growing up in my neighborhood, I was more concerned with taking a burden off my mom [Sandra Whitehead]. I really wanted a chance to get out of town and go to school. Get away from home and see how my upbringing would affect me.” Bowen was familiar with the Hawks head coach.
“Coach [Thomas] Trotter was a Chicago guy, so I decided to give him a try.” Bowen said.
Trotter had formerly been an assistant at Northeastern Illinois under Rees Johnson before the entire athletic program disbanded in the late ’90s. Trotter had some success in luring Chicago kids out East.
Bowen averaged 7.4 points and 5.2 rebounds in 28 games as freshman with the Hawks, but something was missing.
“The success I was hoping to have at Maryland-Eastern Shore as a freshman didn’t pan out the way I was expecting,” Bowen said. “I also got homesick – I’m more of a Momma’s Boy.”
So, Bowen after a year away from home decided to head back to Chicago.
Collins, who was starting to rebuild the foundation of UIC’s program with Banks, Armond Williams and Martell Bailey, was making the Flames an attractive destination for Bowen.
In fact, Collins admitted to Bowen just before he departed for Maryland-Eastern Shore that he had made mistake in not recruiting him harder.
“When I first saw Justin play a few years ago in the Sonny Parker basketball league on the West side, I told Justin then I had missed on him,” Collins said. “I saw some very good things from him. I don’t think Justin forgot that conversation.”
Indeed, Bowen remembered Collins’ kind words.
“Coach [Collins] told me if you ever have any problems there [at UMES], I’ll always have a scholarship here for you. I’d love to have you on my team.
“I knew Cedrick, Martell and Armond all from high school. I saw the success that they had and I just thought I could fit in well here.”
Life as a Flame
Bowen’s career as a Flame started slowly. He came off the bench for the first half of the 2003-04 season. Bowen did not score his first point in a UIC uniform until his fifth game – he had six points in UIC’s rout of Texas-San Antonio.
Bowen made his first start in UIC’s 56-48 home loss to Detroit, but it was his second start – a 13-point effort against Youngstown State that got the Flames going.
When Bowen replaced Aaron Carr as a starter midway through the season, UIC rolled to a 13-1 record and won the Horizon League tournament championship en route to the NCAA tournament.
The next season as a junior, Bowen had an up-and-down campaign as the Flames ended up a disappointing 15-14. There were times when Bowen struggled with his role.
“It just happens that Cedrick Banks was our go-to guy for scoring,” Collins said. “Justin’s role is to come out and lead and play ball to the best of his ability. If it calls for rebounding on a given night, we expect him to do it. If it calls for him to score, we expect him to do it.”
Bowen averaged 7.8 points and 5.4 rebounds as a junior, but was hungry for a more active role.
“Sometimes it’s hard to accept a role,” Bowen said. “You want to do more out there, but when you have Cedrick Banks – he’s a big part of the offense, so you have to accept your role.
“I felt like I had to wait my turn, and that’s OK. I knew, in time, that I’d have a chance to show my abilities.”
A star is born
“They played tough all the time,” Bowen said. “Step up to the plate or sit down. Trash-talking is our thing on the West side. I learned how to play tough. It makes the game exciting. I really don’t like to be quiet out there. I like to make the game fun. When I was growing up and watching the Bulls, Jordan was always trash-talking. It makes the game a lot more exciting. You don’t have to be vulgar, but it makes the game more fun.”
And Bowen has had more than his share of fun this season, reaping the benefits of a much-improved game. He’s improved his baseline jumper and has worked on jumpers from other spots on the floor. He’s even hit his first three career three-pointers as a Flame this season.
“He’s made a big jump from last year,” UIC forward Othyus Jeffers said.
Bowen’s game has grown from just being a slasher and a rebounder into a more complete, well-rounded game.
“He’s put in the time,” Collins said. “He’s worked extremely hard this summer on his shot, getting stronger, and on his ball-handling. He’s also worked hard on his mental approach.”
“Over the summer, I spent a lot of time in the gym,” Bowen added. “It’s all about drive. Coming into my last year, I want to leave my mark at UIC. The last two years, I played OK, but not to the level that I think I can play. I had to work just that much harder to get to where I am now.”
Even the opposition is starting to take notice of Bowen’s markedly improved mid-range game.
“He’s also kind of an old-school guy – he’s got a short-range game,” Davidson coach Bob McKillop said. “Not many guys are used to guarding that anymore.”
“He has that mid-range jumper,” said Northwestern forward Tim Doyle after UIC’s 71-62 victory at Welsh-Ryan Arena on Dec. 14. “It’s such a lost art.”
Even with all the accolades, Bowen recently experienced a moment he would rather forget. During the first media timeout of the game at Butler on Jan. 2, he and Collins engaged in a heated confrontation that led to Bowen’s benching for much of that game.
Bowen likened the rift at Butler to a family fight: “It was just a misunderstanding between me and Coach.”
Bowen went on to make an apology: “Publicly, I would like to apologize first to my family, to the coaching staff, to the corporate sponsors and all the fans that came out to support us. I let my emotions take control of me for that moment. I didn’t mean any disrespect to Coach C. I have a lot of respect for him. He’s been a like a father and a mentor since I’ve been here. I’m very humble and I’m grateful for that.”
Bowen has played himself into elite company in the Horizon League, averaging 16.0 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. He has a legitimate shot at First-Team All-Horizon League honors.
“I’m not surprised in his improvement,” Collins said. “I envisioned him playing this way from the very first time I saw him.
“He’s a guy whose future is very bright, because whatever endeavor he chooses, he’ll be successful.”
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The building at the Northeast corner of Harrison and Racine was as loud as any concert that has played there. The UIC Pavilion was rocking just after an explosive one-man aerial show.
Bowen learned his lessons well coming into his senior season. Spending two years with guys like Banks, Bailey and Williams would only help.