BOILING SPRINGS – Highly touted point guard LaQuincy Rideau (Pompano Beach, Fla.) has signed a National Letter of Intent to attend Gardner-Webb University and will take the court for the men's basketball team in the fall of 2015, announced head coach Tim Craft Wednesday.
"LaQuincy is a physically imposing guard that can fill up a stat sheet in all categories," explained Craft. "He comes from a championship-level high school program and he possesses many intangibles to make winning plays on both ends of the floor. We are very excited about welcoming a young man to our program that understands and values the team concepts that we need to be successful."
The 6-foot-1, 190-pound Rideau starred for national powerhouse Blanche Ely High School in Pompano Beach, Fla., where he was named the Florida Class 7A State Player of the Year by Prep Hoops Florida after averaging 16.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, 6.8 assists and 4.9 steals per game. He got into the lane regularly, hitting 52 percent of his field goal attempts on the season.
Rideau was also named 8A-7A-6A Area Broward County Player of the Year by the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel newspaper. He notched a triple-double in November vs. Park Vista (Fla.) High, going for 28 points, 10 rebounds and a season-high 12 assists. Rideau also had 16 points and seven steals in a notable win over nationally-ranked Ft. Lauderdale (Fla.) Cardinal Gibbons in January.
Those performances helped Rideau lead the Tigers to a perfect 28-0 regular-season record and the Class 7A state title.
Blanche Ely was ranked as high as No. 3 in the nation this season by USA Today, and was one of eight teams in the country to be chosen for the Dick's Sporting Goods National Invitational Tournament in New York. It was Blanche Ely's third invitation to the event in the last four years.
Rideau posted 15 points, six rebounds, seven assists, four steals and three blocked shots against nationally-ranked Findlay (Nev.) Prep.
At Ely, Rideau was coached by Melvin Randle, who was recently named the 2015 USA Today National Coach of the Year after leading Tigers to their third state championship in the last four years.
Rideau joins a recruiting class that already includes junior college transfer Jamaal Robateau (Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia), and incoming freshmen Eric Jamison (East Point, Ga.) and Daniel "DJ" Laster (Pensacola, Fla.).
"My assistant coaches have done an outstanding job recruiting these four student-athletes, and we are very optimistic about the future of this recruiting class," praised Craft.
