Family, Future Help Rashaun Riley Mature Into Team Leader
(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) – Maturity is something one is only able to work out on their own, and it comes at different times throughout life. It means a person is relatively advanced physically, mentally, emotionally, and grown-up. Growing up is something sophomore Rashaun Riley of the men's basketball team did a lot of following his first year at Carnegie Mellon University.
The Houston, Texas native traveled more than 1,300 miles to receive a top-tier education at Carnegie Mellon without learning about the university until his senior year in high school. Prior to his senior year, Rashaun went to an all-academic camp sponsored by the Hoop Mountain basketball program, an annual showcase held at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. That is where he met a member of the Carnegie Mellon coaching staff and became familiar with the school.
"My parents are all about education. Basketball was a secondary choice," said Riley. "The plan was to get into the best possible educational school and then see where basketball would take me."
Upon his arrival back home to Texas, he brought Carnegie Mellon to his father's attention and he couldn't have been more proud. Rashaun's father is in the IT industry and knew what a Carnegie Mellon education means to the industry. His dad told him that is was an incredible opportunity. From there, Carnegie Mellon was Rashaun's strongest interest because he became more educated about the school and knew it would provide the best for his future.
"I had a few small Division I schools interested in me for basketball, however, education was my drive," added Riley. "Carnegie Mellon became the front runner among other UAA and Ivy League options."
Traveling a far distance from home was something that was in the back of Rashaun's mind, but this past summer he was able to put things in perspective. He realized he had to take advantage of the opportunities in front of him.
"I am very much adjusted from being a far distance from home compared to where I was a year ago. I have matured over time and am able to handle things more on my own without relying on my parents. I feel my basketball game has also been more successful as a result," said Riley.
Before the season started, assistant coach Andrew Garcia sat down with Rashaun to talk about the upcoming season and the pair has had many more discussions since. The one thing Garcia preached to Riley was that you are never too young to be a leader or to be a voice on the team. It doesn't come with seniority, it comes with wanting it.
"I took that motto and applied it on and off the court," said Riley. "I try to take a lot of leadership roles outside of basketball as well."
Riley mentioned that the biggest basketball task that he had to overcome from high school to college was the scoring aspect and how the coaching staff wants him to take more responsibility and get others involved on the court. In high school, he was looked at to be the primary scorer and now that is different. The sophomore might be transitioning to be more of a distributer while running the offense, but he is currently second on the team in scoring with 11.4 points per game, which is up from the 6.0 points he averaged a year ago. His field goal percentage has increased by more than 100 points from a year ago and he has handed out 35 assists through 18 games. Riley had 38 total assists during his freshman campaign.
Rashaun has two younger siblings and a lot of his drive is for them. He wants to excel at Carnegie Mellon and do whatever he needs to for his future. He believes this will give his siblings something to look up to.
"Family is very important to me," said Riley. "Knowing that one day I will be the head of the family, I know that education will only help."
Riley is an information systems major and looking to minor in computer science. The starting guard has been interested in IT since the start of high school, where he took programming courses. In the future, Rashaun sees himself anywhere in the software industry. He currently is pursuing internship options for this summer. He has had talks with the Boeing Company and is also looking into getting on board with Facebook.
Off the court, Riley has started to become involved with a non-profit organization called Sponsor Change and plans to become more involved as soon as he gets his workload under control. Sponsor Change consists of consulting with non-profits to establish service projects, recruiting skilled volunteers to complete their service projects and raising funds to support the service projects which are used to directly pay down student loans.