Perkins bringing winning mentality to Iowa
Tony Perkins is a team first guy and one of his goals this year was to bring another state title to Lawrence North High School.
Long time head coach Jack Keefer hadn’t won a title since 2006 and Perkins and his teammates wanted to add to his legacy. Unfortunately the COVID-19 pandemic had other ideas.
After advancing in what is generally considered to be the toughest sectional in the state of Indiana, Perkins and his teammates saw their season come to an abrupt end before a regional game that was set to take place on March 14th.
“It hurt a lot because we wanted to get our coach another state title and we felt like we had a good shot at doing it,” Perkins said. “We had practice on Thursday and we thought we were going to be playing on Saturday. We came together after that and we all said if we had known that was our last practice we would have practiced all day long.”
Even with the premature end to the season, there’s no denying that Perkins had an outstanding senior year. He had flown under the radar as a recruit with Iowa jumping in and offering him a scholarship in the fall.
This season he led his team to a 25-2 record and that is one of his proudest accomplishment because his primary focus this season as being a better leader.
“I felt like I played good, but the thing I am most proud of is being a leader for my teammates and setting a good example. There were times my coach wanted me to shoot more or score more, but I knew I had to keep my teammates involved for us to be successful as a team,” he said.
This season, Perkins averaged 18.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1.8 steals per game. He was named conference player of the year, earned first team All-State honors, and is one of five finalists for the prestigious Mr. Basketball award in Indiana, which will be announced on Friday.
With the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down all indoor basketball facilities in Indiana, Perkins has taken his hoops workouts to an old school level and is now hitting the outdoor hoops at a nearby school to get his work in.
“There’s an elementary school across the street from my house and I take my little brothers over there and we have been playing and I’ve been getting some shots up every day to try and stay in shape.”
During the season, the 2020 Hawkeye signee also kept close tabs on his future team. He watched many of the Iowa games and was actually planning to head over and watch them at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in the Big Ten Tournament before that was cancelled.
“My uncle and I were going to head over and watch them play before the tournament was cancelled,” he said. “I was really excited to see them. They had a great season and all year I was kind of living through them and enjoying seeing the success they had this year.”
Since the end of the season, Iowa assistant coach Sherman Dillard has been checking in on Perkins to make sure he and his family are doing ok and keeping the lines of communication open about the future.
“He calls just to check in and make sure we are doing ok. He said right now the plans are still up in the air due to the coronavirus and what’s going on with it, but hopefully I can get out there this summer,” Perkins said.
When he does finally get to Iowa City and join up with his teammates, what can Iowa fans expect from the talented guard when he hits the court?
“A winning mentality,” he said. “I will do anything to win, the big stuff or the little stuff. I love to win and that’s what I will bring to the team.”