Saturday, he was not average.
After the Dayton Flyers — thanks to one of the wildest finishes you can imagine — upset No. 1 seed Saint Louis, 70-69, in the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 Tournament at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Derkack, UD’s scrappy 6-foot-5 senior guard, made his way to the stands while the rest of his jubilant teammates hugged and bounced and danced and laughed their way to the dressing room.
From up in the section behind the UD bench, where a sea of fans — most of them in red or chapel blue — were raising the roof in this NHL hockey arena turned college hoops heaven, Gene Derkack made his way down to his son.
When he finally leaned over the front barrier and wrapped his arms around his boy, tears were spilling from his eyes. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse and choked in emotion.
The only reason the Flyers were able to triumph in the dizzying final seconds here — an effort culminating with the most unlikely Amaël L’Etang putback one can imagine with .6 of a second left — was due to Derkack.
For most of the rest of the game he had carried the Flyers on his back.
He would score a game-high 28 points — the most by far he’s ever had as a Flyer — and on defense he took over the task of subduing Robbie Avilsa, the A-10 Player of the Year, who had five inches and 30 pounds on him.
Even at game’s end, when the Flyers trailed by a point with 6.6 seconds left, UD coach Anthony Grant opted not to call out a special play but instead just let Derkack have the ball and make something happen.
“You can’t draw up anything better than that,” Grant explained later. “You know he’s going to attack the rim.”
Derkack’s fingerprints on this game were so prevalent and impressive that the UD fans — after he’s just scored seven of what would be nine straight points — began a singsong chant of his name during a time out with 61 seconds left:
“Jor-dan…Der-kack!...Jor-dan Der-kack!”
After the poignant embrace with his dad, Derkack headed off to join his teammates.
“Today is my dad’s 49th birthday,” he would explain. “I didn’t have a card, but I told him: ‘Here’s a bunch of points and a win. I hope that’s enough of a present… Happy Birthday!’”
Back at the stands, Gene quietly struggled to put the moment into words:
“Man, you’re catching me at a really emotional moment. This is the best birthday present I’ve ever gotten in my life.
“I’m just so proud of him. He’s such a special person. He just does what he does out there. He’s such an unbelievable player. He’s such an animal! Just such a dog!
“He told me at breakfast this morning, ‘There’s no way I’m losing this (expletive) game today!’ And I knew in my heart that somehow that’s just how it was going to happen.”
Since Derkack has become a more prominent presence in the Flyers’ lineup again — coming off the bench early but being on the court late when the game is on the line — he has infused some of his give-no-quarter personality onto this team.
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
He’s provided some grit and backbone to a team that needed it.
That was especially the case Saturday and afterwards people from everywhere in the arena gave him a brief but heartfelt embrace when they passed him in a hallway outside the dressing room.
As the VCU team was going out for the second game — and with its win over Saint Joseph’s Saturday the Rams will play UD for the A-10 Championship Sunday and the league’s berth in the NCAA Tournament — its head coach, Phil Martelli Jr. and his brother Jimmy, the associate head coach who once had recruited Derkack to Penn State — both stopped and hugged him.
A little later, Saint Louis radio broadcaster Earl Austin Jr. came past and he too saluted Derkack.
Following the postgame press conference, UD President Dr. Eric Spina did the same.
They all appreciate the blue collar-golden result way Derkack plays the game.
“When I put my handprint on games, I’m trying to affect the game in any way possible,” he said. “I’m going to do whatever it takes to win.”
Asked where this all-consuming attitude comes from, he thought a second, then said, “I think it’s just where I’m from and the way I was raised. It especially comes from my parents.”
Blossoming on a big stage
Gene Derkack was a 6-foot-6 forward who scored 1,146 points at Florida International University in Miami, a team that was coached by Shakey Rodriguez, who had been Anthony Grant’s high school coach at Miami Senior High.
As Jordan described his dad to New Jersey sportswriter Guy Cupp a few years ago: “He was a bruiser, man.”
Jenny Derkack, Jordan’s mom, was an All-American high school soccer player in Saint Louis who became an all-conference force at Florida International.
Gene and Jenny’s three children are all hoops standouts.
Growing up in Colonia, New Jersey — a 30-minute commute from Midtown Manhattan — Derkack starred at Colonia High and ended up at Merrimack College where he teamed up with fellow freshman Javon Bennett, who transferred to UD after a season.
Derkack spent two years at Merrimack and was named the Northeast Conference Player of the Year before transferring to nearby Rutgers.
He spent one season there, getting limited minutes coming off the bench though he did have some big outings including 26 points against No. 8 Michigan State at Madison Square Garden.
Looking for more playing time and a better fit, he followed Bennett to UD this season. He underwent foot surgery over the summer and then coped with other injuries, all which hampered his early progress as a Flyer.
Even so, he started 14 games in the first half of the season and then was turned into a sixth man force.
Saturday, Gene Derkack said his son finally has found the place where he can blossom on a big stage:
“Dayton is such a special community. And Anthony Grant is one of the best human beings I have ever met in my life. He and his coaching staff really care for these kids.
“And Jordan and Von (Javon Bennett) have such a special relationship.
“It’s a great place for him all around.”
‘Luck kind of finds you’
Derkack said when he joined his dad for breakfast Saturday morning he told him:
“I’m not going out against Saint Louis. I’m not going out before we get to Sunday. We all want that chance at the championship.”
Derkack seemed to have taken special offense in the way Saint Louis embarrassed the Flyers, 102-71, on January 31.
In the rematch three weeks later at UD Arena, he played a spirited part in the Flyers’ 77-63 victory over the No. 23 Billikens and ended the game with a breakaway dunk with 14 seconds left that he punctuated by hanging on the rim and swinging back and forth.
An excessive move that delighted the crowd drew a technical.
When he dunked he said he told himself: “I’m going to try to break the rim! Just rip it off the backboard.”
Thanks to the continued lift he gave the Flyers down the stretch Saturday, UD was in a position to stun the 28-4 Billikens in that frantic finish.
With Saint Louis up 66-65, the Flyers Jacob Conner hit a pressurized three-pointer from the corner with 11 seconds left to give UD the 68-66 lead.
But on a Billikens’ fast break, Avila buried a deep three with 6.6 seconds left that put Saint Louis back up by a point.
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
That’s when Derkack got the inbounds pass and came barreling down the lane, trying a spin move on his Saint Louis defender before his barely-controlled desperation flip was off the mark.
Both Avila and L’Etang — who were locked in a rebound scrum on the other side of the hoop — reached for the ball and the Flyers 7-foot-1 sophomore got control of it just enough that he kind of pushed it, as a volleyball setter would, back toward the basket.
The ball went in with .6 of a second left.
“Sometimes it’s luck and sometimes, if you put yourself in position enough times, luck kind of finds you,” Derkack said.
That sets up Sunday’s showdown with longtime nemesis VCU, who beat UD in the 2015 and 2023 championship games.
The No. 4 seeded Flyers, now 23-10, have won only one A-10 Tournament crown and that came in 2003 when the event was played at UD Arena.
History though doesn’t mean as much as current opportunity, Conner said:
“Since June we’ve had one goal in mind. We’ve been talking about the championship game and now we’ve got 40 minutes to do what we’ve been talking about for nine months.
“It’s a pretty cool feeling.”
But Conner said that prompted one final question for Derkack:
“We wondered if he had any other birthday on Sunday; or maybe he’ll celebrate his dad’s again.”
Derkack laughed: “I do have a family birthday March 19. And mine is March 28.
“So, let’s just keep it rolling until then.”
Credit: David Jablonski
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