“At guard, a 6-foot-5 redshirt senior from Raleigh, North Carolina,” is what most fans hear when Terry Henderson is being announced in the starting lineup for the NC State men’s basketball game.
Henderson went to high school in Raleigh and played basketball for Neuse Christian Academy. While at NCA, he led the team to four 3A North Carolina Christian School Association State Championships and scored over 3,300 points.
After high school, Henderson went to play basketball for West Virginia, where he played his first two years of collegiate basketball. He played in 58 games, started 28 of those games and averaged 9.8 points per game.
Henderson enjoyed his time with the Mountaineers and loved his coach. He described how he still uses advice from his previous coach to this day.
“Coach [Bob] Huggins did a great job of teaching me things that I still use today in my game,” Henderson said. “Just having him as a father figure while I was there was important to me.”
Henderson went on to describe how he learned so much from his coach as well as his teammates. Henderson stated that he still stays in contact with his previous teammates.
Once Henderson realized that he wanted to transfer to State, he knew what the hype was going to be like since he is from Raleigh.
“It means everything,” Henderson said about coming back to Raleigh. “That was one of the decisions I thought about coming in and I’m just embracing it and I’m hoping to keep that pipeline going because there’s a lot of basketball talent in Raleigh.”
Since coming to NC State, it has not been an easy road for Henderson. Per NCAA transfer rules, if a player transfers from a different college, he has to sit out for one season. After Henderson finished his required time off the court, in his first game suiting up for the Wolfpack, he tore a ligament in his right ankle just seven minutes into the game and had to sit out once again for an entire season.
Henderson remained calm through it all and stepped up for the team with moral support. He knew that he still had a role on the team, and that his role was off the court rather than on the court.
“I learned that everything happens for a reason, and it didn’t break me,” Henderson said. “We had an unbelievable team with a bunch of talent. I just stayed strong and relied on my teammates. They were able to help me each and every day. [My teammates] are like my brothers, they are family.”
After the healing process and a disappointing end to the 2015-16 season, Henderson is back in full action and is one of the starting guards for NC State.
“He’s had a hard two years,” head coach Mark Gottfried said. ”I’m glad that he’s actually playing and getting confidence that he wasn’t going to be hurt again is important and I think he’s done a great job with that.”
Now that he is a redshirt senior, he is one of the most experienced players on the team.
“It has been important,” Gottfried said. “He’s played college basketball, we have a lot of guys who haven’t played at this level so I think that’s a real benefit for our younger players.”
Henderson realized that since he has the most experience, he was going to have to step up and be the leader on the team.
“He has a steady voice,” Gottfried said. “He plays hard every day. Every day in practice he plays hard; that’s a part of his DNA, so you couldn’t ask of much more from him.
With Henderson having that strong voice, it carries over to off the court leadership as well. Henderson was able to help redshirt sophomore guard Torin Dorn, who went through a similar process.
“He helped me with the transfer process; I’ve never sat out a year of basketball in my life,” Dorn said. “He helped me work through that mental grind, he was really great in helping me through that and his wisdom is infinite.”
Henderson has helped the team this season in his leadership role. Henderson averages 15 points and three rebounds in 32 minutes per game. As this season wraps up, Henderson has a few options of what he can possibly do.
“After this season, I have my degree,” Henderson said. “I’m going to see how we do in the NCAA tournament and pretty much go from there.”
Henderson further described how he is still eligible to get a sixth year at school because of last year’s injury. He is going to see if the NCAA will grant him that sixth year then he will decide on what to do next from there.
Henderson will take the court with the Pack again Wednesday at 7 p.m., as the team heads to Tallahassee, Florida to take on the Seminoles.
Redshirt-sophomore gaurd Terry Henderson looks for a pass inside. The NC State mens basketball team lost to Wake Forest 88-93 at PNC Arena on Jan. 21.
