ILLANGAKOON COMES FROM DOWN UNDER TO LEAD WESTFIELD STATE UP 

By Jeff Hanouille

With a last name like Illangakoon, it's easy to stand out on any team. When you're from Australia and playing the most important position, everyone notices you.

Westfield State College senior point guard Gavin Illangakoon is that player. The 6-2, 185 pound captain has emerged as one of the team's best all-around players, and was a First Team All-Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference (MASCAC) selection in 2005-06.

Molded by the push of his father, his own work ethic, and overall toughness of the competition in Australia, Gavin strives to be the best player he can be.

So how did a kid from Down Under fall in love with an American game?

Gavin first picked up a basketball when he was seven years old. As he got older, Gavin watched taped games of Michael Jordan that his friend gave him because his family didn't have cable. After watching the tapes, Gavin would practice the moves he saw outside, using a basketball hoop his father, Glen, made out of spare wood from around the house.

With the help of his father, Gavin worked to become a complete player. He practiced his ball handling, shooting, foot speed, and strength, his father always pushing him to get better.

Gavin - who was born in Sri Lanka and moved with his family to Australia when he was three years old - was 18 when he won an Australian National title with Victorian State, where he played with Andrew Bogut, the first pick in the 2005 NBA draft.

Gavin, 22, says that the competitiveness and fundamentally sound game of Australian players helped him become a better player.

"It hardened me a little bit," he said. "The Australian players play with reckless abandon."

In 2002 Gavin came to the United States via an international student exchange program. Gavin says it was a difficult decision, but in the end he and his family decided he should go. He attended high school for a year in Ellington, Connecticut and was a senior standout on the basketball team.

With aspirations of playing college basketball, Gavin then made another big decision by enrolling at Westfield State in January of 2003. In Australia, there are no high school or college basketball programs, only club teams.

"Westfield State and Coach (Rich) Sutter took a chance with me," Gavin said. "I'm very thankful for the opportunity that was given to me."

Gavin says the adjustment from Australia to the United States was an easy one. "There was no homesickness or cultural shock," he said. "I was always busy with basketball and school I didn't have time to be homesick."

Compared to the schools in Australia, Gavin says the United States system is a lot easier.

"The schools in Australia have stricter rules and a larger workload," he said. "We had to wear uniforms too."

Gavin - who has a 3.6 grade point average - says that academics are a huge part of his priorities and that Coach Sutter, stresses that all players have to take care of business in the classroom.

"You're letting down the team if you don't take care of business off the court," Gavin said.

It took only two years before Gavin was named a team captain. Sutter says that Gavin is "the whole package."

"He's the straw that stirs the drink," Sutter said. "He makes other people around him better. He's a leader."

In 2005-06, Gavin led the MASCAC in assists with 104. He also led his team in steals (46), average minutes played (32.5), and free throw percentage (.843).

Sophomore guard Dave Jaehnig echoed Sutter's sentiments. "He's the guy that we need to have a good game," Jaehnig said. "He handles the pressure well. He's a leader."

"Scoring comes second," Gavin said. "I need to get the other guys involved. Once they get their shots mine will come, and it will be time to do my own thing."

A game where it was time for Gavin to step up and score came in February of 2006 at Salem State when he poured in a career-high 39 points.

"That was the best game of my career so far," Gavin said. "It was one of those days where the ball kept going in. The game came easy to me that day."

Sutter, who's been coaching for 27 years, says that Gavin's work ethic makes him a good basketball player.

"He's never missed a game or a practice," Sutter said. "He spends six hours a day in the gym."

Junior forward Tim Flint knows all about Gavin's work ethic. The two went to high school together in Ellington and Tim is now one of Gavin's roommates. When Gavin went home to Australia in the summer of 2005, Tim went with him.

While in Australia, their daily regimen consisted of playing basketball, lifting weights for two hours, and practicing drills for another two hours.

"He leads by example," Flint said. "He doesn't just talk the talk. He walks the walk too."

Senior center and fellow team captain Sam Gardner says that Gavin is respectful, mature, and hard-working. The two lived together this past summer and Sam says that Gavin works every day to be a better player.

"He's a student of the game," Gardner said. "He's very intelligent. He's the best all-around player I've played with."

This year, Gavin is having another stellar season. He leads the team in steals, assists, minutes played, and free throw shooting.

"I try to get better each year. I always want to get better from year to year," Gavin said.

Gavin is graduating from Westfield State in December of 2007 with a degree in economics and finance. He would like to go to graduate school, and he's looked at UConn, UMass, Northeastern and Hartford.

If graduate school doesn't work out, he says he hasn't ruled out going home to Australia - or anywhere else in the world - to pursue playing professional basketball.

"Honestly, I would go anywhere to play basketball," Gavin said.

No matter where his journeys take him, Gavin will follow his father's advice: "Never be satisfied with being good. Want to be great."