Iona’s Jordan Washington Overcame Troubled Past to Lead Gaels Into NCAA Tournament

When Jordan Washington was arrested in September 2014 for allegedly shoplifting less than $20 in DVDs from a Walmart in Iowa, he wasn’t sure he would ever play college basketball again.

Washington was committed to Arizona State at the time, but they soon parted ways with him.

“When I had that at junior college, I honestly thought that my basketball career was over,” the 6-foot-8 Washington said Monday as his Iona Gaels, the No. 13 seed in the Midwest Region of the NCAA Tournament, were preparing to face No. 4 Oregon on Friday in Sacramento, Calif. “I thought nobody was ever going to take the chance on me ever again.”

But Iona head coach Tim Cluess, along with assistants Jared Grasso and Brock Erickson, are known for giving second chances to talented, troubled players. Washington, who won two New York Public Schools Athletic League Class B titles at Pathways Prep in Queens, fit that mold.