“I’m not going to lie, when I imagined the final group of twelve players for the Euro, I said to myself: ‘he, for sure, he won’t be there'”. Evan Fournier thus spoke of his teammate Terry Tarpey III a few minutes after a precious victory for France against Lithuania (77-73), Saturday, September 3. Holder for the first time with the Blues, the Franco-American had played a major role in this capital success. Since then he has not left Vincent Collet’s starting five, and should still be there, Saturday, September 10, against Turkey in the round of 16.
A status difficult to imagine a few weeks earlier when his selection for the competition was not obvious. Even for the coach: “I must admit that when I gave a list of 17 players, I did not think he would be part of the twelve selected”slipped Vincent Collet.
First match in the 5 major for Terry Tarpey: 8 PTS, 4 REB, 4 INT, 1 CT in 21 MIN #TeamFranceBasket x @Taarpey | #PassionatelyBlue | #EuroBasket | #LTUFRA pic.twitter.com/bof0AufCxb
– French basketball teams (@FRABasketball) September 4, 2022
His role has however only grown to such an extent that the rear-winger spent barely less than thirty minutes on the floor during the benchmark match of the Blues against Bosnia (81-68) on Tuesday. The third longest playing time behind Evan Fournier and Thomas Heurtel. “Seeing him scratch minutes in the eyes of the coach is something we could not even imagine, enthuses Vincent Loriot, sporting director of Le Mans, the club in which Terry Tarpey III has been playing since 2017. I feel grateful. Finally, French and continental basketball are becoming aware of the added value of this player.”
How did this player, unknown to the general public, despite his 12 selections before the start of the Euro, become so indispensable? In a group in reconstruction in the absence of its executives Nicolas Batum and Nando De Colo, the Manceau has integrated perfectly. “To build a new team, it is very important that everyone can find their role. Terry (Tarpey III) is one of those who have found their place”greets Vincent Collet. “He has so much heart, he plays for the team, gives everything he has”abounds Evan Fournier.
“If we want to succeed, we have to understand that he is the perfect example of how we should behave. We need guys like him.”
Evan Fournier, captain of the French teamat a press conference
“He surprises me because, if his defensive performance is up to expectations, he is also very effective in attack by playing simple, with success on open shots that he does not refuse”, analyzes Christophe Denis, former coach of Paris-Levallois. Since the start of the competition, the Habs have been running at 5.4 points (56% from three-pointers), three rebounds, 1.8 assists on average. With 2.2 interceptions per game, he is even the best ball scraper in the Euro.
His defensive qualities and dedication to the collective are not new to Terry Tarpey III. Vincent Loriot discovered it with his own eyes in Nanterre, in June 2016, during a friendly match with the France A team. During the match, the number 0 dislocates his finger by throwing himself on a ball which spins outside the limits of the field. “He asks the physio to put his finger back in place, then he immediately went back to fighting. We fell ‘in love’ immediatelysays the Sarthois sports director. It’s so rare a player who does not calculate his efforts at the risk of injury.”
His professional career changed precisely thanks to this campaign with the France A team, which he preferred to join at the expense of a summer camp with the Boston Celtics NBA franchise. Born in Poissy during the professional career of his father (Terry Tarpey Sr), the tricolor international (first selection in November 2021) returned to the United States at the age of three. On the other side of the Atlantic, he will keep very strong ties with France, from which he derives the nationality of his paternal great-grandfather, originally from Ariège.
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After four years at the University of William & Mary Tribe, in the county of Virginia (United States), the basketball player joined the France A’ team without speaking a word of the language of Molière. “He had asked us not to speak English to him, remembers Christophe Denis, assistant coach during the three campaigns of this French reserve team. To make things easier, I translated the instructions for him, but when we left the field, he wanted us to speak only French to him. This desire for integration marked me.”
Terry Tarpey, third of the name, signed in the wake of Denain (Nord), in Pro B. A club renowned for developing young players with high potential. Before joining Le Mans Sarthe Basket, in 2017, to imitate his father, Terry Tarpey Sr, club player from 1994 to 1997. “Following in his father’s footsteps was a dream for him”confides Vincent Loriot, who paints the portrait of a “ideal son-in-law, a real nice guy in a world vitiated by money”.
It is especially on the floor that Terry Tarpey III seduces everyone. Year after year, his statistics are much the same as the level rises. “The mark of the very great is to be able to do very well what they have always been able to doassures Christophe Denis. No matter the adversity, he always manages to reproduce it.”
Still under contract until 2024 with Le Mans, position 2 is no longer unknown on the continental scene. “We are not going to lie to each other, we are aware of a very growing interest in him”admits the sports director of the MSB, Vincent Loriot, whose phone has been ringing a lot for ten days. “He won’t stay long at Le Mans, believes Christophe Denis. He’s been a hit and I think a lot of Euroleague teams are talking about him right now.”
For him, the gaze is more turned towards the ultimate objective of his itinerary on the courts: “Since the start of my career, the objective has been 2024: to be in the French team for the Olympic Games in Paris”he told AFP. In view of his Eurobasket, this is no longer utopian.