Nashville’s Cambridge family impacting college hoops for years to come
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BVM) – If one has grown up playing basketball in the Nashville area or even in the state of Tennessee in general, the likelihood that they’ve seen or at least heard of the Cambridges is high. The family is led by their patriarch Desmond Cambridge Sr., who was an all-conference player at Alabama A&M from 1999-2002 where he set the NCAA record for steals in a season with 160. After playing professionally for several years, Desmond Sr. noticed that his children were becoming good at the game themselves and pushed for them to become even better.
“I’ve always been hard on them and they needed me here and I made sure to be there,” Desmond Sr. said. “I took them with me to the gym all the time.”
The Cambridges are an elite family of basketball players and could nearly form a team on their own, with four having already either played or are currently playing college basketball and two highly-rated high school players, the group is as good as they come.
“I think everybody in our circle who knew me just assumed and figured [they’d play basketball],” Desmond Sr. said. “They were always in the gym. They always had a basketball. You just knew [they’d play].”
The oldest of the group is Jalon, who played point guard for Pope John Paul II High School in Nashville where he averaged 14 points and 4.4 assists while shooting 87% from the line as a senior. Before leaving the school, Jalon would leave his mark, setting the school’s all-time career scoring mark at the time. He would follow up his high school career by playing collegiately for NAIA Fisk University located in the city.
The next sibling on the list is Desmond Jr. and he has quite the resume. Desmond Jr. averaged 16.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game his senior year at the Hun School of Princeton in New Jersey where he would earn Prep Player of the Year honors. Desmond Jr. would take his skills to Brown where he would make an immediate impact, becoming the Ivy League Rookie of the Year after breaking the school’s freshman record by scoring 468 points, an average of 17.3 per game. As a sophomore, he again led Brown in scoring with 15.7 points in 30 starts and was named to the U.S. Basketball Writers Association District I team.
He transferred to Nevada in 2019, sitting out the season due to transfer rules and in 2020 was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches’ All-District 17 second team, as well as to the All-Mountain West Conference third team after he finished the season with 16.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, and one steal per game. This year, the redshirt senior has played and started in all 12 games and has averaged 17.3 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists for the 7-5 Wolfpack.
Alongside Desmond Jr. is sister Jordyn. Jordyn wouldn’t play for Pope John Paull II High School, but instead for Ensworth School also located in Nashville. During her time at Ensworth, Jordyn quickly became one of the best female basketball players nationally. A three-time Tennessee Sports Writers Association Division II all-state selection, Jordyn would also be named a finalist for the Division II-AA Miss Basketball award as both a sophomore and a junior and would lead Ensworth School to 25-4 record and Division II-AA state championship her junior season where she would be named the game’s MVP. She would not play her senior year due to a torn ACL in her right knee that she suffered in the offseason between her wrap up her junior and senior years and ended her Ensworth career averaging 14 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.1 assists.
Ranked as the No. 23 overall prospect and No. 4 guard nationally in the Class of 2018 by ESPNHoopGurlz, Jordyn would make the decision to stay close to home and commit to Vanderbilt.
“The boys’ route was a little harder,” Desmond Sr. said. “But my daughter was playing and she became nationally ranked…That’s when I kind of saw [we could have more].”
During her first season, where she missed four games recovering from her ACL injury, she averaged 3.3 points and 15.3 minutes while seeing action in 24 games in the 2018-19 season.
As a sophomore, Jordyn showed all the skills she had pre-injury, becoming the first Vanderbilt player with more than 100 assists and more than 80 steals in a season since Jade Huntington had 100 and 87 in 1989-90, one of five players nationally to have more than 80 steals, 100 assists and 150 rebounds that year and finished the year with the 10th-most steals in a season in school history with 85. She finished the year averaging 7.0 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.8 steals while starting all 30 games.
Unfortunately, in the last game of the season against Auburn in the SEC Tournament, Jordyn would tear her left ACL and would miss the entirety of the 2020-21 season. Fully recovered this season, Jordyn is once again showing off her elite skills, averaging 9.6 points, 5.8 rebounds and 4.5 assists in 16 games for the 10-6 Commodores.
Next up was Devan, who played for the same PJP team as Jalon averaging 17 points as a junior. Prior to his senior year, Devan transferred to Hillcrest Prep in Arizona where he’d become one of the best players in the country, eventually being ranked as a three-star recruit by both Rivals and 247Sports and listed as the No. 8 player in the state of Arizona by 247Sports after he averaged 13 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.3 blocks and 1.7 steals in 22 games during senior season.
Devan would jump to the Division I level, committing to Auburn. During his freshman year in 2019-20 with the Tigers, where he averaged 4.2 points, 2.3 rebounds, 0.4 blocks and 0.4 steals in 13.2 minutes per game while playing in all 31 games off the bench. As a sophomore the next season, Devan’s role would grow as he averaged 8.9 points, 3.6 rebounds, 0.9 steals, 0.7 assists and 0.6 blocks in 25.3 minutes per game, appearing in all 27 games with 19 starts. This season, Devan’s role has grown again as he has started all 14 games for Auburn and is averaging 7.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 0.5 assists for the 15-1 and No. 4 ranked Tigers.
Now comes the next generation of Cambridges – the high schoolers. The first is Deayonna, who goes by Kennedy and is a senior for her sister’s former school, Ensworth. Just like her sister, Kennedy is highly-touted and among the best in Tennessee and the country as a whole. Currently, Kennedy is rated as the No. 36 guard in the country and is a four-star prospect. Kennedy has recently reopened her recruitment and has made a few high profile visits including to both Auburn and Cincinnati. With her senior year approaching its end, Kennedy’s decision is one scouts and fans are sure to keep an eye on.
However, Kennedy may not even be the best Cambridge on her team. That distinction goes to her younger sister and the youngest high schooler of the family, Jaloni. Currently rated as the No. 2 overall prospect in the Class of 2024 by ESPN HoopGurlz, Jaloni has been a force for Ensworth since she first arrived on the squad as an eighth grader and has earned plentiful offers from top ranked programs across the country.
She also became the first in the family to represent Team USA as she was a member of the 2021 FIBA Americas U16 Championship where she averaged 8.0 points and 3.0 rebounds to help the USA to a 6-0 record and gold medal at the 2021 FIBA Americas U16 Championship in Léon, Mexico. In the championship, she recorded 18 points, three assists and five steals in the win over Canada.
As only a freshman last year, Jaloni won the Tennessee Secondary Schools Athletic Association Division-II Miss Basketball award for the top player in the state after she averaged 19.4 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.8 assists during the regular season for an Ensworth team that fell in the state quarterfinals.
“The two youngest’s progression are way past the oldest four and what they were at at their age,” Desmond Sr. said.
Jaloni and Kennedy are once again leading Ensworth to a strong season as the Tigers are currently 8-4 with their only losses coming against nationally recognized opponents and they sit with a 2-0 league record. With the Cambridges leading the way, it is expected that Ensworth will be one of the toughest teams come state tournament time.
While Jaloni ends the Cambridges’ family currently getting college basketball looks, she likely won’t be the last of the Cambridges basketball fans see in the future. Younger brother Jasiah, 13, could be next in line for the throne as best Cambridge to do it, but only time will tell. But one thing is certain, the older kids have prepared the younger ones for anything ahead.
“They compete for everything. They race to the table and whatever you can compete in they do,” Desmond Sr. said. “Something we go by in our household from Talladega Nights is Ricky Bobby’s quote, ‘If you’re not first, you’re last,’ and we really go by that.”
In the meantime, if one plans to tune into college basketball this season or in the future, it is likely that they’ll see the skills of a Cambridge and that isn’t going to change anytime soon.
“I tell all of them, ‘Don’t be afraid to bet on yourself,’ because they think they can all play high level ball,” Desmond Sr. said. “CAD–Cambridge All Day. That’s something they’re proud of and I always told them to be proud of your name…They try to be great and hold each other accountable.”
