In the spring semester of 2014, Tristan Carey, 24, now graduated, was finishing up his third and final season with the Longwood men’s basketball team. He not only led the team in both points and rebounds per game, but also scored an astonishing 1,504 career points, leaving Longwood as the sixth all-time leading scorer for the Lancers.
Jayson Gee, the men’s basketball head coach, started coaching at Longwood during the 2013-14 season.
“When I got here, he (Carey) immediately rose to the occasion and began leading the younger guys. It was apparent that he was determined to show that he was one of the best players in the conference,” said Gee.
“Being an athlete in college, it makes you do things a lot differently. You have to know time management and everything that comes with it,” Carey explained. “It was fun being an athlete, but outside of being an athlete was even more fun. You get to meet different people that have different backgrounds. Once you go to Longwood and see people interact with the community, you can understand how to better yourself in becoming a leader.”
Carey knew school came first, and that he had to graduate, but he also had plans to push his basketball career to the next level as well. Earlier in that season, after being featured on SportsCenter’s Top 10 for a monster dunk against Radford, Carey had signed with Walton Sports Management Group (WSMG), a full-service sports agency that works to train and prepare players to go professional.
“Not enough people know who Longwood is, so from a program standpoint, appearing on national television was very impressive, especially in getting our name out there,” stated Gee.
“I think that we knew from the first time we saw him step on the court that he had the ability to be a professional. He had some amazing performances through some really tough team struggles and some really long losing streaks. There was not a game where Tristan was not mentally prepared to play,” said men’s basketball associate head coach Jake Luhn.
After graduating with a major in sociology, Carey continued playing basketball and enhancing his skills and fundamentals as a free-agent, as he awaited the upcoming 2014 NBA Draft. Unfortunately, he was not drafted that summer. This led him to leave the United States to play for Marso Nyiregyhazi KK, an A-Division Hungarian basketball league, in early September.
Carey did not spend long in Hungary, returning to the U.S. only two months later to attend the 2014 NBA D-league Draft. The D-League is a developmental league which acts as the official minor league to the NBA.
He was picked No. 14 in the second round by the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, but placed on the inactive list prior to the season opener. The Vipers are the minor league team to the Houston Rockets. He remained inactive for over three months before being released in January of 2015, after not playing a single game.
As Carey stated about the past year, “This game comes with ups and downs; you never really know what’s going to happen. You have to be able to handle the circumstances, and if you can you’ll be fine.”
“This is life, things happen in life, and that’s how I look at it. Certain things happen, and you’ve got to move forward,” he continued.
Carey returned home and began looking for work. Six months went by until he got his next big break, signing a contract in July 2015 with BC Rilski Sportist, a Bulgarian professional basketball club.
He left the United States again in mid-August, and has been in Bulgaria since. The team has only played three games so far this season, losing two of those three, but Carey finally gets to play professionally.
While playing in the NBA would be at the top of Carey’s list of desired career choices, he has also considered coaching as a possible option.
“I want to do something with my skill set to try and help others with what they do,” said Carey.
There’s no telling what lies ahead for Tristan Carey down the road, but for now he is extremely pleased to have a contract and starting position abroad.
After facing many obstacles in his post-collegiate basketball career, Carey has now settled on a professional league in Bulgaria for now.
