For sophomore guard Mustapha Farrakhan, talent has never been an issue.
He has a smooth, lefty jump shot with a quick release, an explosive first step and the ability that has plagued some of his teammates in recent years: ball-handling.
Yet, for all of last season and the first month of this season, the grandson of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan could never seem to put it all together.
After two conference games, however, it appears that Farrakhan has finally hit his stride. Most recently against Virginia Tech Saturday, Farrakhan simply couldn’t miss in the second half, knocking down four threes in a row late in the game as Virginia nearly overcame a 15-point deficit in Blacksburg, eventually falling 78-75. Farrakhan ended with 17 points in 12 minutes.
“I don’t think any of us were surprised,” freshman guard Sylven Landesberg said of Farrakhan’s scoring outburst. “When he gets hot, he just gets going. It’s hard for him to turn off.”
For Farrakhan, who scored 20-plus points per game at his high school in Harvey, Ill. just outside of Chicago, the hot shooting was not anything new.
“I used to score quick like that, like in the first halves, have like a quick 25,” Farrakhan said. “I’m just a confident shooter.”
Though the opportunities given to Farrakhan were sparse last season, Virginia coach Dave Leitao made it clear that he expected big things from his young guard — he was even observed at an open practice telling Farrakhan in front of the entire team that he could be a premier player in the ACC if he wanted to be. He backed up his words by giving Farrakhan the start at the two spot during the first two games this season, but again Farrakhan did not produce, scoring just 2 points as Leitao yanked him from the lineup early in both games.
Finally, against Hampton Dec. 23, Farrakhan earned back some playing time, hitting three of his five field goal attempts, including two threes, in eight minutes during the second half.
That game appeared to be just the lift that Farrakhan needed. In Virginia’s conference opener against Georgia Tech, he had another big half, hitting a perfect 3-3 field goals and 2-2 free throws for 10 first-half points, as the Cavaliers stole an overtime win.
After following that with 9 points in a blowout victory against Brown University and the huge night against the Hokies, perhaps Farrakhan is done taking his lumps.
“What’s ailed him before ... he has not been able to play through some errors,” Leitao said. “Mentally, he’s playing through those errors a little bit better.”
Before finding his stride recently, Farrakhan was disappointed that it took so long to get his chance and even said transferring to another school crossed his mind.
“I was surprised [that it didn’t work out last season],” Farrakhan said. “I came out the first exhibition game, played, and then after that, the minutes came real hard. But it’s just a learning experience — a lot of freshmen gotta go through it I guess.”
It took not only the support of his teammates, but also the support of his dad, also named Mustapha, to push “Mu,” as the younger Farrakhan is known to teammates and fans, through the tough freshman season.
“I talk to my dad about seven times a day,” Farrakhan said. “He’s my best friend.”
Now that he has the confidence of his coach, Farrakhan has put himself in position to offer his team another weapon at the offensive end of the floor, one that the occasionally point-starved Cavaliers so desperately need.
“Everybody on the team knows that I have a good jump shot,” Farrakhan said. “If you see a shooter hitting shots, they’re just gonna keep coming back to you.”
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