By David Cohen
Southern Miss Sports Information

HATTIESBURG — There is an old saying that if you give a man a fish, he will eat for a day, but if you teach a man to fish, he will eat for life.

Southern Miss senior guard D’Angelo Richardson will eat for life.

There are few better ways to describe the two-year walk-on and former Vicksburg High star than a moment of adversity this past summer that paved the way for his emergence as an adult.

“This past summer, I had hit a pole trying to avoid a deer,” Richardson said. “My bumper, hood and fender were all dented in. I went to Pull-A-Part and brought a new bumper and fender. Me and my god-dad. He kind of knew and wanted me to do it. Basically, I did all the work while he watched over and directed me. It was a good learning experience.”

Richardson’s oneness with cars has transitioned into his current job, car detailing at Mack Grubbs Hyundai in Hattiesburg, which he has done since last summer. He says that while financial aid helps him through his classes, his car payments are all directly from his employment.

Southern Miss coach Doc Sadler said Richardson has helped the team win some games, but more importantly has done everything ever asked of him.

“He is a kid that has a job, gets up and goes to work at 7 a.m., leaves there and then goes to school,” Sadler said. “On the weekends, he is working. He’s one of those kids that paid his own way, so he is responsible and is going to be very successful. Don’t be surprised that someday you’ll see D’Angelo doing something special.”

Richardson’s work ethic is an inherent trait, but basketball was certainly a learned one. In fact, he admits that out of his non-sports-centric household, he did not even know what ESPN or the NBA was until eighth grade.

His ninth-grade season at Vicksburg High was when he first began to realize his potential.

“My coach that year instilled a lot of confidence in me,” Richardson said. “Once he started doing that, I started seeing results. It was like ‘Dang, if I keep working hard, I can get to where I want to go,’ so that’s basically what happened.”

Richardson eventually emerged as a star for Vicksburg. He led the Gators to the Class 5A championship game and earned The Vicksburg Post’s Warren County Player of the Year award as a senior in 2014, and got a basketball scholarship to Holmes Community College.

After his second year at Holmes, he was gaining some interest from Alcorn State and Xavier (La.), but his coach knew Sadler.

“Doc pretty much took my coach’s word, and said ‘If he’s a good guy, then I can take him in,’ and that’s basically how I got down here,” Richardson said.

Richardson’s time in the Black and Gold has been everything he could have asked for.

In his USM debut in 2016, Richardson connected on a baseline jumper with 33 seconds left in overtime to tie Tougaloo. Then, with one second left, he sank two free-throws to force a second overtime. From there, he hit a 3-pointer with 34 seconds left to put his team up by two and sank two more foul shots with 10 ticks remaining to effectively seal the game.

Then, on Feb. 16, 2017, with Southern Miss squaring off against Florida International with a Conference USA Tournament bid on the line, he reeled in a long offensive rebound and sank a 3-pointer well beyond the arc just before the overtime buzzer to win the game.

Richardson has five career starts, all this season, and has also produced five double-figure scoring games. Southern Miss won each of those. He even made 23 consecutive free throw attempts this season, the longest streak by a Golden Eagle since 2013.

Richardson and the Golden Eagles will play Florida International in the first round of this year’s Conference USA Tournament on Wednesday night in Frisco, Texas.

Southern Miss forward Cortez Edwards is also roommates with Richardson and sang his praises.

“Our relationship has really grown on and off the court,” Edwards said. “I’m just grateful I met and learned a lot from him. He’s outgoing and down-to-earth. Authentic. He’s a real funny guy. He’s friends with everybody on the team, all 13 of us.”

Richardson’s persona is wise beyond his years. He’s far from the first walk-on to earn a significant role on a college basketball team, and he won’t be the last. He boasts his own words of encouragement for the next man up in that position.

“It’s a life lesson,” he said. “You can do whatever you want to do even though it might not pan out as much as you want it to. Work hard and stay down through all the hard times. Try to take in as much as you can. If you can play offense and defense, scout team and get reps at the starting spot, do both. I say do everything, there’s so much you can learn and trying to experience different things can help in the future.”

CONFERENCE USA TOURNAMENT
At Frisco, Texas
Wednesday – First round
6 p.m. – Florida International vs. Southern Miss
6:30 p.m. – UTSA vs. UTEP
8:30 p.m. – North Texas vs. Louisiana Tech
9 p.m. – UAB vs. Florida Atlantic
• All games will be streamed online on Facebook