Jaylen Hands blends broad music taste with basketball to reflect on his gameplay

Jaylen Hands has always had a reputation as a high-flying human highlight reel.

The first time he wore a UCLA men’s basketball jersey, he dunked on Steve Alford.

Now Alford is gone, and the sophomore is the lone point guard on the team. No more Aaron Holiday, Thomas Welsh or GG Goloman to lead the way – Hands is one of UCLA’s most experienced players.

And as one of the team’s fresh new leaders, Hands has turned to his most comfortable pastime to ease into the new role – regular and introspective dives into his favorite music.

“I make it a priority to just be,” Hands said. “I like taking deep breaths sometimes, whether it’s on the court or just in my room. I think music really relaxes me and I just like being able to think about where I’m at now, where I could be headed, the people I’m with, the decisions I’m making.”

Dom Kennedy, Brent Faiyaz and Kanye West are some of the artists Hands said he listens to daily, highlighting their honesty and creativity as the key draws.

“(I like West), a lot of his early stuff like ‘The College Dropout’ album,” Hands said. “He’s very honest about his position in life, self confidence, I like that. Like his song ‘Last Call,’ I play that so much because it inspires me.”

“Last Call” – the final song on “The College Dropout” – clocks in at 12 minutes, 41 seconds and features lyrics about an “overlooked” West standing up to haters and overcoming “the hand (he) was dealt.”

While Hands was not exactly overlooked before coming to UCLA, he does have his cynics.

The San Diego native was a five-star recruit and McDonald’s All-American out of Mater Dei High School, a perennial top-10 program that has produced nine NBA players. He was heralded as the successor to Lonzo Ball and was expected to be another one-and-done top pick for UCLA.

The Pac-12’s leading assister may have morphed his game into more of a pass-first approach this season, but he still averages 3.1 turnovers per game – earning him seemingly endless criticism on the internet.

But another one of Hands’ musical idols, Frank Ocean, sticks to his unique style – and it’s paid off.

Ocean had a following of haters on comment boards and Twitter after bursting onto the music scene in 2011. Since then, he has reeled in two Grammys and five additional nominations, something Hands said has to do with the rapper’s internal creativity.

“Frank Ocean, he’s just super creative, the way he writes, he always just has me thinking,” Hands said. “I listen to his music all the time and each time I listen to it, I find a different gem or way to think about something.”

Ocean’s lyrics on his 2016 albums “Blonde” and “Endless” align with the same themes of perseverance as Hands’ favorite Kayne songs, but they also contain messages about being reliable for the people closest to him.

Hands has done a lot of that this season.

After UCLA overcame a 17-point deficit to force overtime against Oregon on Jan. 10, freshman center Moses Brown turned the ball over with just over two minutes left in the extra period and hung his head low while getting back on defense.

Hands came up from behind the freshman, grabbed his chin, and lifted it back up.

“That’s my brother, my point guard,” Brown said. “He does a good job of encouraging me.”

The 7-footer – who is shooting 33.3 percent from the charity stripe this season – went on to hit a free throw with 19 seconds left to put the Bruins up by three, a lead they would hold onto until the final buzzer.

“We didn’t fight all that way for nothing, so we can’t dwell on one mistake,” Hands said. “I just wanted to lift (Brown) up to get (him) back focused, and that’s what happened.”

The Bruins’ other five-star sophomore, guard Kris Wilkes, has been roommates with Hands since the two got to campus in the summer of 2017. Wilkes said the two are very close and that he’s enjoyed watching Hands grow on the court, but he did not have the same kind of praise for his teammate’s taste in music.

“He has a wide range of music he likes, so it’s different,” Wilkes said. “There’s a lot of stuff he likes that I don’t like, but he’s a big musical guy, so he likes a little bit of everything.”

Basketball is a sport often associated with hip-hop artists like West and Ocean, but some of Hands’ other favorites like jazz singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse do not exactly evoke images of blacktops and hoop mixtapes.

“(Winehouse was) very honest about her problems, internally, so I feel that,” Hands said. “I really feel her music. … I just like feeling stuff, be able to feel it, internalize it, think about it.”

Hands said that listening to his favorite music gives him the solitude to explore his thoughts and be thankful for everything he has accomplished, but the Bruin also happens to be an outgoing fan favorite on Twitter.

Whether he’s sharing what he’s listening to that day or listing his favorite post-practice snacks, Hands has shaped a free-spirited and expressive persona on social media.

“(My image isn’t) so much what I want it to be, (it’s) just being myself,” Hands said. “I’m still learning how to balance it out. But I just like having fun when I’m outside of basketball.”

That fun personality has spilled into basketball too.

The guard cracked SportsCenter Top 10 Plays last year when he tossed Wilkes a through-the-legs alley-oop against Stanford in Pauley Pavilion, and he nearly did the same against Notre Dame last month.

While he made it clear winning comes first, Hands said playing fast and loose is integral both to his game and his self-expression.

“It just has to do with personality,” Hands said. “I think I’m best when I’m loose and I’m in a situation where I can show my personality. … It’s fun when you can get out there and get the job done and have a little fun while you’re doing it.”

Hands carries that personality on and off the court, and when he takes a moment to blend it together with the creativity of West, the honesty of Winehouse and the poetry of Ocean, he said he can build himself into something more.

“Creativity and honesty, that’s just, for me, being honest with myself about where I’m at, how I can get better,” Hands said. “I think once it all comes together into what I envision myself to be and where I’m at, … it’s going to be beautiful.”