St. Charles East's Stephens picks Purdue
St. Charles East's Kendall Stephens has a sweet, natural shot and he made a natural choice for his college basketball career.
On Monday the Saints' 6-foot-5 sophomore guard gave his verbal commitment to Purdue University and Boilermakers coach Matt Painter, who personally had seen Stephens play this season against Geneva and Elgin.
Stephens will follow in the footsteps of his father. Everette Stephens is a former Boilermakers guard who played for Gene Keady, graduating in 1988 then playing two seasons in the NBA. Kendall's mother, Kay, is a Purdue graduate who grew up in West Lafayette, Ind.
Though still a sophomore, Kendall Stephens said Purdue "just checked off all the boxes."
"Why wait, knowing it's the best school for me," Kendall said. "Get it over with so I can focus on my skills so I can prepare to play at the next level."
The younger Stephens will be a legacy at Purdue, but he seriously considered offers from Northwestern, Wisconsin, Illinois and DePaul, all of which came in since St. Charles East's annual Ron Johnson Thanksgiving Tournament.
Stephens, who made his official visit to Purdue on Jan. 29, attended Sunday's Purdue-Illinois game in Champaign to personally deliver the news to Illini coach Bruce Weber. After calling Painter to offer his commitment on Monday, he called the other coaches as well.
"It has a special connection," Everette Stephens said, "but all those other schools are great schools, so even if he chose any of the other schools, I would have been just as happy."
Duke, Indiana and Michigan also had contacted St. Charles East coach Brian Clodi about Kendall Stephens, who is Clodi's first Division I commit. Clodi coached DII players Kevin Senechalle (University of Wisconsin-Parkside) and Collin Pryor (Northern State University in South Dakota).
"He is as humble as you can get, he's such a great teammate, he works hard, his defense is excellent," Clodi said of Stephens. "He's become a good leader. A lot of guys who are really good and talented, they get full of themselves, and Kendall is far from that."
Coming off a weekend in which he totaled 45 points in two games, the lanky sophomore increased his scoring average to a team-high 16.9 points a game. He also leads the Saints in rebounding (5.2), steals (1.9) and blocked shots (1.2). Having made 59 3-point baskets, his 3-point shooting average of 40 percent nearly equals his ratio inside the arc, 46 percent.
"I'm just pleased that he really has an opportunity and people think highly of him to play Division I, because I know how special that is and how challenging that is," Everette Stephens said. "I think he's on the right track of improving, and we're hoping that he can continue to get better as a basketball player."
Clodi projected Kendall would add a couple more inches in height, and said that playing two more high school seasons plus playing for Mike Mullins' Illinois Wolves AAU team, he'll become a "man among boys" on the court.
"The bottom line is people feel he's got a chance to play past the Division I level," Clodi said.
Monday night Stephens joined his family to watch older sister Chanel play in the Saints' girls Class 4A playoff opener. As well as thanking Clodi and Mullins, Kendall felt "blessed" for the family support in making this tough decision at an early age.
"A lot of people were telling me that if I wait more offers would be coming in, but I'm definitely satisfied and definitely excited with the offer that I committed to at Purdue," Stephens said. "Now I've got to focus on my skills. The recruiting was amazing, a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but it's also stressful."