![]() Jackson’s mother, Tricia Altieri, was a college basketball player and an accomplished amateur boxer, part of a large Italian family in Amsterdam. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill) Jessica Hill / Associated Press He is an amalgamation of who and what surrounded him, and what he continues to learn about a complicated world.Ĭonnecticut's Andre Jackson in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game, Tuesday, Nov. Jackson, 20, grew up as part of a massive, multiracial, multicultural family with relationships that created windows for his boundless curiosity about life and people. He has started 31 of 32 games for UConn (23-9), averaging 29.2 minutes, 6.8 points, seven rebounds, 3.1 assists and at least one head-spinning or eye-popping play a game. Jackson’s development this season as a sophomore has been a well of resources for the Huskies, who open the NCAA Tournament Thursday against New Mexico State at KeyBank Center in Buffalo - about 250 miles west of Jackson’s childhood home in Amsterdam, N.Y. He is an increasingly effective passer and rebounder, a stellar defender, a fascinating study in basketball maturation on the fly, a national flag blue streak trying to harness all his 100 mph gifts. He’s a wiry 6 foot 7 guard, forward, something in between, both, something new in one way, a throwback in another. In life and basketball, though, Jackson is the polar opposite of one-dimensional. He is so refined in areas of show and force - and unrefined, though improving, in others - that it has occasionally been easy label him. Today, he dunks and plays like few others in college basketball, with unique athletic violence. Jackson was just 12 when he began dunking at the regulation 10 feet. UConn men's basketball sophomore Andre Jackson. So me and my brother would get a screwdriver and stick it through the little hole, find different ways to lower the hoop. My dad would hide the crank because he didn’t want me to put the hoop down, but I always wanted to dunk. “I would lower that hoop and dunk and keep raising it until I couldn’t dunk anymore. “That’s where I learned to dunk,” Jackson Jr., the Huskies sophomore, said. but it still stands, a resilient centerpiece to a setting that shaped the childhood of the most interesting player - and person - on the UConn men’s basketball team. ![]() and has taken a beating over the years from Andre Jackson Jr. The adjustable hoop in the driveway was purchased by Andre Jackson Sr. (AP Photo/Nick Wass) Nick Wass / Associated Press Photos clockwise from top, UConn guard Andre Jackson (44) in action during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Georgetown, Sunday, Feb.
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