March 11, 2015 By Justin St. Peter

It’s the game within the game.

Whenever the men’s basketball team makes a good play, the crowd turns to the bench and watches the team go crazy. One player stands out. That player is freshman guard Jerry Ngobi.

Ngobi does not play much, but he is well-known for being the most exuberant player on the court. He will jump up and down, wave his arms to get the crowd to cheer louder, greet the starters with a special handshake during player introductions and generally have a great time.

“That’s how I love to play basketball,” Ngobi said. “I just love to put a lot of passion in it. When they make a big shot, my job is to scream and get everybody hyped up. My coaches love it.”

Bill Simmons, creator of Grantland.com and a top ESPN basketball contributor, has a special name for players like Ngobi. He calls them “chemists.” Simmons says chemists are the last people who greet the starters as they are announced. They have a good relationship with everyone on the team and generally go crazy whenever their team does something well.

Some famous chemists are Brian Scalabrine, Robert Sacre, Kent Bazemore, Renaldo Balkman and James Posey. Besides Scalabrine, not many people know who these guys are, but those who do, celebrate them as the glue guys who hold teams together through a long season.

Deadspin.com has been known to show videos of reserve players going crazy on the bench. For basketball fans, it is another form of entertainment at each game.

In one of the pregame huddles at home earlier this season, Ngobi did a full slide on his stomach from the huddle and stopped right in front of the bench.

“We came up with that on a road trip,” Ngobi said. “We just find ways to energize ourselves.”

Ngobi said the Warhawks coaching staff originally thought his bench antics were a one-time thing, but they have come to get used to it.

“They love it,” Ngobi said. “Whenever I am quiet, they always ask, ‘Where’s Jerry? Where’s Jerry?’”

Ngobi said he has a lot of friends who go to the games, and he tells them to bring their friends as well to get the student section as large as possible.

The Warhawks pep band took notice of Ngobi as well. They began cheering “JERRY! JERRY! JERRY!” from their section, and it has grown like wild-fire throughout the student section.

One of the four pep band student directors, senior Jessica Erbe, knows how it all began.

“We were asked to sing “Happy Birthday” to him, and we found out who he was,” Erbe said.

His Valentine’s Day birthday sparked chants from the pep band that was quickly mimicked by the student section.

“We like to cheer for the team first obviously, but when we know their names, we like to make up our special chants,” Erbe said.

Ngobi said he is appreciative of all the love from the fans, but says that he really loves being part of the Warhawks team.

“We are all brothers,” Ngobi said. “We do everything together off the court. It’s crazy how tight we are.”

The Warhawks season ended prematurely on March 6 in the first round of the NCAA tournament, but that did not keep Ngobi off the floor.

In 1:19 seconds of playing time, he scored seven points and recorded two steals.

With the departure of seniors Quardell Young, Cody Odegaard, Rahjan Muhammad, KJ Evans, Steve Egan and Terrence Bradley, he could see an increased role on next year’s squad.

No matter what happens, Ngobi’s on-court antics likely will be a must-see event over the next three years.