In March of 2023, as he watched FDU basketball guards Demetre Roberts and Grant Singleton dismantle top-seeded Purdue in the NCAA Tournament, Ty Barba-Bey thought: That could be me.
Like him, Roberts and Singleton played four years of Division 2 ball before getting a postgraduate crack at the Division 1 stage.
“Even to this day when I watch the clips, it still gives me the chills,” Barba-Bey said of the epic upset. “Knowing they came from the same level I was at, I’m like, ‘I want to make something like that happen.’”
He’ll have his chance this coming season. After four years at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, the 6-foot-4 Piscataway High School grad has earned a spot in FDU’s starting backcourt. His smooth transition is the latest reminder that the leap from D-2 to D-1, which is being made by an increasing amount of up-transfers, isn’t all that steep.
“At every level, there’s good basketball players,” he said. “We had guys (at Jefferson) who didn’t care what level they were at – they were going to go out and hoop every time. That helped prepare me for this level.”
A late bloomer who started playing organized ball in eighth grade, Barba-Bey was lightly recruited out of Piscataway High, where he also played volleyball. At Jefferson he got better each season. As a senior last winter he averaged 13.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.1 assists to help the Rams finish 23-8 and make the D-2 NCAA Tournament. He graduated with a degree in business management and entered the transfer portal, where FDU was the lone D-1 program that showed interest.
The Knights have an assistant coach dedicated to scouring D-2 for prospects, which makes sense. Roberts and Singleton were smashing success stories, but not really outliers. D-2 alum Max Strus averaged 12 points in the NBA last season. And Rutgers’ rotation includes a former D-2 star, P.J. Hayes, who lit up St. John’s in a recent exhibition.
FDU coach Jack Castleberry was drawn to Barba-Bey because he averaged four assists while playing off the ball (which is how he’ll also be used with the Knights), can create his own shot, has a winning pedigree and is a good personality fit.
“It was incredible how quickly people here felt like he was not a new guy,” Castleberry said.
Ranked third in the Northeast Conference preseason poll, FDU features three proven program veterans in point guard Terrence Brown and forwards Jo’el Emmanuel and Cameron Tweedy. The Knights also added a second Jefferson player, forward Bismark Nsiah.
“Those guys (from Jefferson) know how to win,” Castleberry said.
And they won’t take anything for granted.
“I have to go out every time and play as hard as I can, because I know what I had to go through to get here,” Barba-Bey said. “Being back in Jersey and being on this stage, it’s a blessing. I’m staying in the moment so I can embrace it all – and show people I belong.”
Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.
