ORLANDO — Though the Utah Jazz lost, 115-107, against the Orlando Magic on Thursday night, there was a lot of Jazz love in the Kia Center.
Rookies Taylor Hendricks and Brice Sensabaugh are both Florida natives who grew up very close to where the Magic play their home games — Hendricks went to high school about a 30 minute drive from Orlando and played collegiately at UCF, and Sensabaugh went to high school about five minutes down the road — and they had a ton of family and friends in the building for a night that will be pretty memorable, despite the loss.
“It feels good, it’s always nice to play in Florida,” Hendricks said. “At the beginning of the season I would have never thought I’d be in this position, so it’s a blessing.”
Both players only recently started to get regular minutes with the Jazz after spending the majority of their time with the SLC Stars in the G League. For Hendricks, it’s been a wild few weeks. Following the trade deadline, Hendricks went from almost no playing time to huge minutes with the Jazz and then within just a couple of games he was thrust into the starting lineup.
“Like two years ago, I was in Markelle Fultz suite, because we have the same agent,” Hendricks said. “So I was in his suite, watching a Magic game, and two years later I’m here playing against him, so this was nice.”
Sensabaugh’s family has had this game marked on the calendar since the schedule came out, but they weren’t sure whether he was even going to be with the Jazz since he’d spent so much time with the Stars.
“Being in the G having to go through that process, I didn’t even know if I was gonna be able to be here and play,” Sensabaugh said. “It’s definitely a blessing that I got to play in front of the people who helped me throughout and coached me, watched me, whatever it was. It was fun.”
Players always get a certain amount of comped tickets to give to friends and family, but that number isn’t infinite. Both players said the number of people that came to watch them went far beyond the number of tickets that were free.
“I only had like 10 tickets, but there was like 30 or 40 people here,” Sensabaugh said, noting that he was most excited for his parents to see him play. “My parents, they barely missed a game when I was growing up, so for them to be in the building now, no matter where it is ... it was really cool.”
Hendricks’ mother, Danielle, has been able to attend quite a few Stars and Jazz games this year, but Hendricks’ twin brother Tyler, who is still at UCF, and older brother Jamal Jones, as well as many others were able to be at the game on Thursday night.
Sensabaugh was also glad that the timing worked out so well for his family. His parents are relocating to Dallas in just a few days, which meant that they were able to see this game before they officially left Florida and will be able to be at the Jazz’s game against the Mavericks on March 21.
“For it to match up perfectly and for it to be their last week here and be able to catch this game, it was all really cool,” he said.