BASKETBALL

'I finally get to say it': Springfield Lanphier grad Division-I basketball player at last

Ryan Mahan
State Journal-Register
Missouri-St. Louis' Yaakema Rose, a 2017 Lanphier High School graduate, is trying to get past the Southwest Baptist University defense on Saturday, Feb. 5, 2022 in St. Louis. Rose will finish his collegiate basketball career at Eastern Illinois University.

Yaakema Rose has one more leg on his long, winding journey as a collegiate basketball player. 

And the 2017 Lanphier graduate feels like he's earned it. 

Rose, a 5-foot-9 guard, will use his final year of eligibility at Eastern Illinois. It's the culmination of a process that began with doubts for the 2017 State Journal-Register large-school player of the year. The undersized guard started his collegiate career at Ranger College — a junior college in Texas — before going to Parkland, a junior college in Champaign, and then spending three years at NCAA Division II Missouri-St. Louis. 

Now, he's a Division I basketball player.

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"It's something I've been dreaming for my whole life; I finally get to say it," Rose said on Sunday. "It's just a wonderful feeling, really. My message is really the label doesn't mean anything, I took my own path, but it's something to be proud about and I'm going to make the most of it."

EIU coach Marty Simmons said Rose will add a lot to the Panthers.

"Yaakema Rose Jr., brings highly valued toughness, experience and playmaking ability to our team," Simmons said in a release. "He has a knack for making big plays and making those around him better. He comes highly decorated having won at every level he's been at, including (Lanphier), Parkland College and Missouri-St. Louis and we look forward to him making a great impact on our program as well."

Lanphier's Yaakema Rose (1) goes for a lay-in after driving past Chicago Morgan Park's Lenell Henry (23) in the fourth quarter during the semifinals of the IHSA Class 3A basketball state tournament at Carver Arena, Friday, March 17, 2017, in Peoria.

Road to Charleston

Rose averaged 12.1 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.1 assists per game to help Missouri-St. Louis finish 26-7 overall and 14-5 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. He was named the GLVC Player of the Week twice and his 68 steals were 14th in the country among D-II players. 

"I always had to find my way to impact the game in different ways," Rose said. "Most of it is mostly heart; heart gets you a lot of the way no matter the size or weight difference. I always tried to play hard because I felt that was the most important and coaches love to see players that show heart."

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Missouri-St. Louis won the GLVC Tournament for the first time in school history and made it to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Division II tournament. Rose was also named first-team all-GLVC.

Rose said his game has come a long way since he was putting on shows at Lober-Nika Gymnasium and around the Central State Eight Conference.

"I did improve a lot," Rose said. "It just comes with being mature and experience. That's how your game improves if you stay around it. Now I feel like shooting and ball handling and how I maneuver and dissect defenses is something I've worked on. I actually understand the game a lot more. You always have to put on your thinking cap."

Rose led the Tritons in scoring his first year at UMSL with 13.7 ppg in 32 games in the 2019-20 season. But his 2020-21 season quickly derailed with finger and knee injuries which limited him to five games. That, combined with the partial season at Ranger, gave him two more seasons to play.

Prior to Missouri-St. Louis, Rose averaged 16.2 ppg — on 43% shooting from behind the 3-point line — and earned National Junior College Athletic Association Division II Men's Basketball All-America second-team honors.

Yaakema Rose

Future plans

Rose graduated from UMSL with a bachelor's degree in exercise science. At Eastern, he plans to study occupational therapy and psychology. 

He said ultimately he wants to "(study) the human brain and when it comes to occupational therapy I just want to know how my elders, how their brain functions when it comes to exercise and therapy, just maintaining their strength at the age they're at. 

"I've always been into exercising, but I wanted to expand it and not work with a particular group but work with all ages. I just want to be able to be one of those guys who is able people get back to their normal self after being injured and help the elders maintain their strength."

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But following one final college season, Rose hopes to keep playing basketball.

"I want to play in the league or overseas after my time at Eastern," Rose said. 

Rose said his path — sometimes winding, sometimes rocky — led him to where he is now. 

"When I was down in Texas, I had a little bump in the road — it was more like an a little obstacle; I couldn't go around I had to run through it," Rose said. "When I got to Parkland, it was motivation to what happened at Ranger and I wanted to prove myself. Being an all-American just gave me confidence going into (future seasons)."

Contact Ryan Mahan: 788-1546, ryan.mahan@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.