Unlikely USF basketball sharpshooter continues hot streak

TAMPA, Fla. — University of South Florida men's basketball guard Wes Enis has quickly become an unlikely standout for the Bulls, and he's looking to help lead his team to another conference victory Wednesday night at the Yuengling Center.

The ambidextrous guard made program history in the conference opener by breaking the single-game record for three-pointers made with 10. Two games later, Enis tied his own mark with another 10 three's.

"It feels good. You're really not thinking, actually," Enis explained after Tuesday's practice. "It's a thing they call 'Flow State.' You're just obsessed and involved in the game. You're kinda lost in the game. You almost black out, in a sense."

Enis started his youth basketball career shooting right-handed, but something felt off. In seventh grade, he decided to switch to being a full-time lefty.

"I know I'm not going to be very tall, so I'm going to have to develop a jump shot. My right hand was just never there," he recalled. "So I decided in eighth grade to just switch- because I do everything else left-handed, like brush my teeth, eat, everything like that. So I switched, and I guess it worked out."

Despite his current success, Enis was barely recruited out of high school, receiving zero out of a possible five stars in recruiting rankings. He made a stop in Division 2 basketball before eventually landing at USF, where head coach Bryan Hodgson doesn't rely heavily on recruiting rankings.

"He's probably one of the hardest workers on our team," Hodgson said frankly. "We tell the guys all the time 'Just stick with it. Keep pounding the stone. Eventually it's going to crack.' It did. It cracked open for him and he's done it twice in three games, now, which is phenomenal."

"I always thought I could be in this position. I never stopped believing in myself," Enis added. "Belief in myself and continued hard work, and God put me in a position of where I am today."

Wes was putting in so much work that his coaches had to save him from burning himself out.

"We had to scale him back. We had to get him to be more precise in what he does in less time. He's a non-stop, relentless worker," Hodgson said.

For Enis, his journey is all about maximizing his effort.

"I don't want to ever have a doubt in my mind that I could put more work in. I want to max out," he said. "I would be able to live with myself. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I wasn't able to max out."

The Bulls host East Carolina tomorrow at 7 p.m. at the Yuengling Center.