After a breakout grassroots season with Darius Garland Elite, Terrence Hayes Jr. picked up his first division one offer. The 6’2” 2026 guard of 21st Century High School (IN) was offered by nearby Valparaiso earlier this week.
“It feels great to get my first offer,” Hayes said about the offer from the Missouri Valley Conference program. “Just showing me that my hard work starting to pay off, but I still got way more work to do.” When asked about Valparaiso, Hayes stated “I love how welcoming the coaching staff is. The day they first talked to me they held conversations with me as if I had been playing under them for years, but I also like how good of a school it is overall as far as education and things of that nature.”
At the NY2LA Summer Jam back during the July live periods, Hayes was one of the top players at the 16U level. This included helping Darius Garland Elite get all the way to the 16U platinum championship game. In the final seconds of the semifinals, Hayes hit the game winning jump shot while finishing with 22 points. “My season with DG Elite was great, I feel like it was a good opportunity for me to showcase my overall skill set and talent…I had a great team around me, a bunch of unselfish guys, that all brought a lot to the table.
“All-around game,” is how Hayes first described his play. “There isn’t much I can’t do on the offensive side, I play defense, I always want to guard the best player, I pass the ball exceptionally well, get all my teammates involved, and I rebound the basketball at a high rate, and play extremely hard.” Over the summer the guard showcased a very good ability to score from all three levels with his shot creating and exceling on the attack.
In his upcoming junior year, Hayes is looking to maintain a 3.5 GPA or higher and “win state more than anything.”