'Puerto Rican party' for Curbelo, Plummer, Melendez

Andre Curbelo looked at Alfonso Plummer on Saturday morning at State Farm Center and directed him to do something in Spanish. Quickly, Plummer reacted, ran around an RJ Melendez screen and caught Curbelo’s pass before quickly turning and burying a three-pointer at Illinois’ open practice.

This brief play on Saturday morning wasn’t a random occurrence between three Puerto Rican basketball players on Illinois’ roster. Rather, it is a microcosm of what could be a major advantage for the Fighting Illini this season – three players who all call Puerto Rico home and regularly speak in their native language on and off the basketball court.

Curbelo (sophomore), Plummer (senior) and Melendez (freshman) are all different ages and all come from different home towns in Puerto Rico, but their connection on the court – and in their personal lives – is undeniable and it’s made their adaptation to playing for Illinois easier.

“We see Andre Curbelo who has been in our system and maybe there is slang or terminology that they don’t understand,” Illinois head coach Brad Underwood said. “He’s done an unbelievable job of communicating with those guys and talking. Not just on the court but think there is some comfort.”

Curbelo’s freshman year at Illinois in 2020-21 was far from normal. He didn’t attend a class in person, due to the university attempting to curtail the spread of Covid-19. Instead, he and the rest of the Illinois student body took nearly all of their classes virtually.

In a way, this is Curbelo’s freshman year of college. Sure, he has taken college classes and played an entire season for the Illini in which they went 24-7 and earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. But socially he is experiencing campus for the first time – and he gets to do it with a pair of teammates with who he can easily communicate.

“I think it’s great,” Curbelo said. “It makes you feel like there is part of the island somewhere here in Champaign.”

The three aren’t shy about a lack of Puerto Rican culture in Urbana-Champaign. They have yet to find a Puerto Rican restaurant on-campus or off-campus and their busy schedules make it difficult for them to get involved with Puerto Rican clubs or groups on campus. But they have each other, and that’s almost as important to the Illini point guard.

“Being on the basketball teams makes it hard to connect with others in the community that are Puerto Ricans because we are so busy and stuff,” Curbelo said. “But to have the both of them literally 24/7 on and off the court is great.”

Plummer comes to Illinois after starting his college career with two years at Arizona Western College and two seasons at Utah. The 6-foot-1 guard has a career 39.9 percent three-point rate and averaged 13.6 points a game for the Utes last season.

“He’s one of the best shooters that I’ve coach, period,” Underwood said. “He’s gifted. He’s an unbelievable worker, he’s a young man that is always in the gym, that is always working on his game, I love that about him. He has fit right into our culture. He can make a shot with hands in his face, he can do it off the run. There’s not a lot of college players today that can run away from the basket, pivot and catch and shoot it and do it from the range he can do it.”

The four years that he spent at Arizona Western and Utah taught Plummer that playing basketball in the United States isn’t always the most welcoming experience for someone who wasn’t born in America.

“Sometimes you go to other programs and you are the only Spanish guy or guy who can speak another language,” Plummer said. “You feel kind of out of the zone, anxious, lost at times and not knowing what to do and nobody can help you because the language is hard. If you have people that can help in your language, it’s going to be easier for you and it’s going to feel like it’s going to help my confidence.”

Plummer likely wouldn’t be at Illinois if Adam Miller hadn’t surprisingly transferred to LSU this offseason. But when Plummer became available, his connection to Curbelo helped bring him to Illinois for his final season of eligibility.

“He said that he knows I want to be a pro, he said he knows that I want to be a better teammate, person, player and he said he’s going to be there by my side,” Plummer said. “Anything I want, need, he’s going to help me. He also said that he is going to get me a lot of touches because he said that he has the confidence in me and that I can help the team offensively.”

Meanwhile, Melendez isn’t as likely to make a seismic impact for Illinois this season that Curbelo and potentially Plummer can. He was the No. 117 ranked player by Rivals in the 2021 recruiting class he is still developing his wiry 6-foot-7, 205-pound frame and learning the college lifestyle and college game. That’s where Curbelo and Plummer have been a big help.

“Knowing that I have Belo and Plummer by my side at Illinois, being able to communicate with them and spend time with them, it’s amazing because it would be a lot different if I didn’t have them here,” Melendez said. “It makes me a lot more comfortable being around them and it’s just amazing how we can communicate through each other.”

Communication off the court has given the trio a group that understands the struggles, difficulties and challenges that college presents for a foreign student. But the basketball court is almost a home-away-from-home for the three. They call out plays and direct each other to different spots on each side of the court, and it leaves their teammates and eventually, opponents puzzled.

“We can say a whole play in Spanish and nobody is going to know what we are going to do,” Plummer said. “Scouting report, that doesn’t matter because they don’t know what we are about to do because they don’t know what we are talking about. It’s an advantage for us.”

Added Curbelo: “That’s the beauty of basketball. You’re seeing now in the NBA it’s becoming very international. Even though we are part of the States we are from somewhere else. We come from an island. It’s definitely going to be an advantage being able to say, ‘do this’ or ‘don’t do that’ in Spanish because then the other person isn’t going to expect it.”

Even some teammates have tried to get in on the Spanish speaking. Da’Monte Williams, Jacob Grandison and Kofi Cockburn were all mentioned by Curbelo for trying to speak the language. But Curbelo also mentioned that they mostly just know the bad words, as of right now. But that hasn’t stopped Underwood from accepting the advantage bilingual players have.

“I think it’s huge,” he said. “We all try to disguise, we all have terminology and we all try to be as secretive as we can, but obviously speaking a different language is the ultimate. I think that could be something that plays into the outcome of a game at some point.”

As great as an on-the-court connection is for the three, it’s the off-the-court communication and activities that really matter. Because they have yet to find a Puerto Rican restaurant in Urbana-Champaign the trio made the drive to Chicago a couple of weeks ago, so they could satisfy cravings with food from their home island.

“The drive was crazy,” Curbelo said. “It was two and a half hours just for some walking around some pictures and some food. But it was worth it. We went to Ponce restaurant. Ponce is Italian Puerto Rico; we felt the taste of home there. It was authentic, real food. It was definitely a great time; I might go some time again.”

Spontaneous trips to Chicago for food aren’t going to be as easy for the Illini’s Puerto Rican trio now that practice is underway and games are quickly approaching. But they’re already plans being put into place for nights at home with Puerto Rican food.

“I want to at some point do a little something,” Curbelo said. “Not only for the food, but the bonding part and being together. I think it’s great.”

In the end, the three are all just happy to have others that understand them. They have brought a “great spirit, great energy” as Underwood said to Illini basketball. To Plummer, the trio has given him more than a taste of home.

“It’s a Puerto Rican party,” he said. … It’s like a family vibe. They always bring love.”