NEW ORLEANS — Derek St. Hilaire’s highlight reel dunks at Texas A&M Corpus Christi in February punched his ticket to the 33rd annual State Farm College Slam Dunk Championships here in New Orleans.
“It’s kind of weird how things work out. I didn’t even know the Final Four was going to be down here in New Orleans. So, they happened to choose me for the dunk contest. So, the city has got to come out and support me because I’m going to put on a show,” says Derek St. Hilaire.
Derek’s final act in a UNO Privateer uniform is one that he is training daily to perfect.
But pulling off those above the rim moments in games and training for an actual dunk contest are two different things.
“There’s been so many dunks that everybody has seen already. So, I don’t want to do the same thing that everyone has seen but at the same time I’m kind of limited. I’m 6 feet, you know. I can only jump so high , even though I can jump high. It’s a little hard but at the same time it’s not. It’s more so just creativity. I don’t practice them to much just because I want to save my legs. At the same time, any time I can get in the gym and try something, I’m going to try it,” says St. Hilaire.
Derek remembers watching the dunk contest in 2019 when the bar was set high by the last New Orleans and Southland Conference representative -Marlain Veal.
“It was original. So, he had two dudes on the side of him and somebody in front of him. They threw him and he jumped over that person, dunked it, hung on the rim, put his feet on the backboard and was like. That was cool. That’s the part I speak about, it’s having imagination with the dunks because there is so many dunks that people have seen. They don’t want to see the same stuff. So, you just got to kind of bring a little something different to it. What he did was definitely something different,” says St. Hilaire.
Different is what Derek St. Hilaire hopes to showcase Thursday night at the Convocation Center.
He was committed to Xavier while in high school and has seen what a packed arena looks and feels like.
“When it’s jumping, it’s jumping. I’m going to have crazy adrenaline going through me. Feel like I can jump through the roof. So, it’s just about me making the dunk, that’s it,” says St. Hilaire.
Derek has worn the number 10 the last two years at UNO and hopes wearing that jersey Thursday night will help the judges when deciding his score.
The event is scheduled for Thursday night at 8 p.m. For more information, click here.