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Western Kentucky guard Orlando Mendez-Valdez is guilty of identity theft, but the Hilltoppers won’t be calling the police.
Mendez-Valdez entered today’s Sun Belt Conference matchup against Troy on a streak any NBA shooter would admire. The senior has hit 13 of his last 24 3-pointers over the last three games, and he’s hit at least four 3-pointers in three of WKU’s last five.
The secret? Pretending he is an NBA shooter.
“I have this psychological thing I do before a game where I pretend I’m one of the greatest shooters of all time, like (former Indiana Pacers guard) Reggie Miller, or someone of that caliber,” Mendez-Valdez explained this week. “It works out for me, so that’s what I go with.”
But it’s more than a return to childhood days, when he’d try to emulate one of his NBA favorites on the playground.
It’s become a mental game for Mendez-Valdez, who assumes the identity of any NBA star of his choosing.
“Most of it is shooting with confidence,” Mendez-Valdez said. “(It starts) in warm-ups. If I say I’m Reggie Miller and I miss a shot, then I go down to another guy. If I make it with that guy, I’m going to be that guy for the game.”
Taking the persona of former University of Illinois standout and current Utah Jazz star Deron Williams was a very good decision for Mendez-Valdez on Sunday.
Williams - or Mendez-Valdez - hit a career-best seven 3-pointers and scored a career-high 25 points in WKU’s loss to Florida State in Sunrise, Fla.
He also grabbed a career-high seven rebounds, which marked the first time in his 104-game career that he’s led the Hilltoppers in rebounding.
“I’ve got to see (today),” Mendez-Valdez said. “If I make my (first) shot with him, I’ll be with him (against Troy).”
Mendez-Valdez also makes sure to let his teammates know exactly who he is on game days.
“You definitely hear about it in the locker room,” sophomore forward/center D.J. Magley said. “He (shouts) ‘I’m Deron Williams.’ ”
“He’s always in there saying, ‘I’m Deron Williams, I’m Deron Williams.’ So we’ll say who we are and he’ll (respond), ‘I don’t care who you are. I’m Deron Williams.’ ”
Just don’t expect Mendez-Valdez to be Boston Celtics guard Ray Allen. That’s who Mendez-Valdez was when the Hilltoppers fell at Murray State.
It’s taken until his senior year for Mendez-Valdez to develop his routine, although he didn’t need the characters during his sophomore year. Mendez-Valdez shot better than 47 percent from 3-point range that year, then hit almost 39 percent last year.
He’s now shooting almost 41 percent from beyond the arc this season and his 42-percent career mark ranks second on WKU’s all-time list for 3-point field goal percentage for a career.
Mendez-Valdez’s “inspiration” is actually actor Robert Downey Jr. in the 2008 movie, “Tropic Thunder.” In the film, a group of actors make a war movie, but Downey refuses to break character.
“I bought into that and I just did it,” Mendez-Valdez said.
But WKU coach Ken McDonald said this week that Aguilar had his first full practice this week. McDonald said there’s a chance Aguilar would see time today against Troy.
“We’ll see how he feels,” McDonald said. “He’s still making sure he knows everything offensively that we’ve got going on, and defensively he’s catching back up. And he’s been out a while, so you’re concerned about that. We’ll have to see what the trainer says.”
