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When Neal Quinn stepped onto the Ramapo (New Jersey) High School court for the first practice of his senior year, he was surrounded by a team coming off a one-point loss in the 2018 state sectional championship the previous season. It was the second time in three years Ramapo fell short in the sectional title game.

So when Quinn was subbed out with less than a minute remaining in Ramapo’s blowout state sectional championship game win later that season, it meant more knowing that he had helped the team get over the hump.

“He was so happy for the other guys that it was pretty neat to see,” said Ramapo head coach Joe Sandberg.

But at the conclusion of his high school career, even after he helped lead Ramapo to the state title, Quinn had just one Division I offer to play college basketball — at Lafayette College, a Patriot League school. At Lafayette, Quinn has facilitated the offense as a “point center,” and as a sophomore last season, Quinn led all DI centers with 3.8 assists per game after averaging six per game at Ramapo. Quinn and the Leopards open their season Tuesday night against Syracuse.

Quinn prides himself on his ability to “hit the open guys,” but he deferred much of the credit for his passing numbers to Lafayette’s offensive system. The Leopards run an offense centered around guards and wings cutting toward the basket, allowing Quinn to find them on backdoor cuts, he said. Lafayette frequently works on cutting in practice, and Quinn said that his teammates moving so well without the ball is what makes it easy for him to find them.

Even in high school, Quinn’s passing ability separated him from other big men, Sandberg said. Sandberg had never coached a center who could pass the ball like Quinn.

“It was really amazing to see how he sees the game as a point guard, but he’s 7 feet tall,” Sandberg said.

But Quinn hasn’t limited his offensive impact to just passing since he arrived at Lafayette. His 10.6 points per game ranked third on the Leopards last year, despite his 22.2 minutes per game ranking only sixth. And with the team’s top two scorers — guards Justin Jaworski and E.J. Stephens — graduating and transferring, respectively, Quinn could be in line for an increased offensive role this season, Lafayette guard Tyrone Perry said.

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Quinn can handle the expanded offensive load this season and could even be “one of the top bigs in college basketball” this year, Perry said. He also compared Quinn to Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić — whose career 5.9 assists per game are the most of any center in NBA history — citing Quinn’s court vision and ability to score down low as similarities between the big men.

Although he grew up modeling his game after star center Dwight Howard, Quinn said he now emulates Jokić as the two have “a very similar build.” Quinn stands at 7-foot, 260 pounds, while Jokić is 6-foot-11, 284 pounds.

“If I can do half of what (Jokić) does, I’ll be all right,” Quinn said, followed by a laugh.

Above all else, Quinn prioritizes being a good teammate, identifying selflessness as one of the main pieces of his game and something that leads to his high assists average.

Quinn began playing basketball in kindergarten but almost dropped the sport in middle school because he didn’t enjoy playing anymore. In high school, however, Quinn found a renewed passion for the sport, which helped push Ramapo over the hump in 2019 and has helped him become one of the nation’s leading passers — even as a 7-foot center.

“It’s definitely just development — that’s what we pride ourselves on at Lafayette, we really develop guys,” Quinn said. “I came in as a freshman (and) I wasn’t that good, and then I really developed over my time here.”

Published on November 8, 2021 at 9:41 pm

Contact Spencer: spgoldst@syr.edu