Kent State of Mind: Delrecco Gillespie and Rob Whaley Jr.
11/23/2025 3:41:00 PM | General, Men's Basketball
Kent State Men's Basketball forwards and first cousins Delrecco Gillespie and Rob Whaley Jr. join Andrea Filote for the Kent State of Mind series. In this conversation, Delrecco and Rob open up about their upbringing, family dynamic, playing styles, and what it means to be teammates at Kent State University.
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AF: This is Kent State in mind. I'm Andrea Filote and joining me today is Delrecco Gillespie and Rob Whaley Jr. You guys are cousins, how does it feel to finally get to play together?
DG: It was amazing. It's something that you don't see in Division-IÂ basketball or at any level of college basketball. So, I'm fortunate to be able to take the court and play this season with my cousin.
RW: It definitely was something that I would say is a gift. We grew up really not playing with each other, and we just always competed against each other and had fun as kids, really just going head-to-head. So, I mean, it's finally like nice to be able to play with each other.
AF: Can you tell me a little about your relationship as cousins growing up?
DG: Growing up we were always, like, competitive. Just competing against each other, like Rob just said. It was really just a lot of competing and loving on each other. So that's all I can say about our...
RW:...Relationship. I mean, honestly, we butt heads a little bit as kids. I mean, as boys do. But I mean we always played the game together as kids. Whenever I was back home there in the summer in Michigan, like, we spent pretty much all that time together. I mean, it was like we were brothers.
AF: Recco, you've been with this program for four years. What made you stay here all four years?
DG: Just the family, brotherhood around the program, around the university, and also, I'm closer to home to Michigan. Ever since I got my first Official visit here, I just fell in love with it.
AF: What was your initial reaction when you found out Rob was transferring in?
DG: I was shocked, I was happy too. Coach told me, "I'm trying to get your cousin." And I'm like, oh yeah come on! We never played together. That'd be like, amazing if we played together. Like growing up as kids, we never got to really play with each other, we always going against each other. And I just thought that was like, special for us to be able to play together.
AF: Rob what made you choose Kent State and how big of a factor was playing with Recco?
RW: You know, it actually was more of a factor than I thought it was going to be. Firstly, I originally was recruited here my sophomore year of college, but I end up choosing a different school. I ended up going to UNLV. But the connection I had with coach Sandy was like, unparalleled. He's believed in me since then, and then he's believed in me now from the first time I talked to him till now, like he truly believes in me. And that was something that I needed at the time. Coming into this year, coming off of an injury after redshirting. Definitely having him here was something that was great. This is my first time being back this side of the country since forever. So, I mean, having him here has been nice and just having familiarity with him and just being able to build our connection back up to what it was when we were kids.
AF: What role has your family played in this basketball journey, and how did they react when they found out that you guys will be playing together?
DG: They were excited. You know, my mom, she passed in 2017. She always wanted us to play at a college. And to now just to be playing at the college level together, it's just a blessing. Like I said we're fortunate to be able to be cousins, to play at this level. So, I know she's looking down, smiling, proud.
RW: You know, my dad is definitely had a big part on both of us. I mean my dad played in the NBA and he's just always been on us about basketball. It's kind of in our genes. Everybody in our family plays basketball. And it's just something I feel like we were born to do. And I feel like my dad's had a big role in helping me decide my decisions, because he's always let me make my own decisions. It was it's nice to have his influence, to be able to make this decision. And being here and I mean I love it here. So, it's great.
AF: I'm going to encourage you to be as creative as possible for this next question. If your family can make any cousin merch, what do you think it would say on it?
DG: Something like the Rob/Recc, the Rob Recc show, or something.
RW: Something, I actually have to think. That's a good question. I don't know.
DG: Family merch... Joy Boys, we'd put Joy Boys.
RW: Definitely Joy Boys.
AF: Joy Boys? Why?
DG: My mom's name is Joy. And like I said, she just like visioned us playing college basketball at some college, but somehow, we're teammates now.
RW: She's been a big influence on I mean, not only him, but me. I grew up playing being in her house every day. Yeah, that was something that my dad came up with and I mean, that being his sister, he loved it. So it was just it's something that stuck with us.
AF: And then who is the loudest fan in the family?
RW: That's a good question. I feel like it's different for both of us. Just because my dad, hasn't come to a lot of my games because he's over here and I've been West Coast pretty much my whole life. But I talked to him on the phone literally every day after every game. I would definitely say probably my dad, but I mean, he's not loud in the sense of like that. But when I play bad, he gives me an earful. But when I play good, I get an earful. I definitely would say it's him.
DG: I would say my godmother. My first three years, she was a loud fan. But this year she told me she's not going to be a loud fan this year.
AF: Did you guys always dream of playing on the same team or did it just kind of happen organically?
RW: I know for me it kind of just happened organically. Just because my thing was, is I grew up West Coast, so I thought I was just going to be West Coast forever. So I never thought of me being back this way at all. And so after, I mean, once it happened, it was a lot better. It's gone a lot better honestly than I thought it would just because of us not playing with each other. Besides I mean everybody has an ego, we both have egos. He's been here for four years. I've been playing college basketball for the same amount of time now. And so it's like something that's like you got to just kind of figure out on the fly. And I feel like, I feel like we've done a good job of like...
DG:...Meshing together...
RW:...Meshing together very well.
DG: I'll pretty much say the same. I never knew that we'd play with each other, so it happened organically. Just like Rob said, I think it's gone really good. We're meshing together right on the floor together and off the court.
AF: Can you talk a little bit about your dynamic on the court, now that you are playing together.
RW: Is definitely interesting, just because I'm a great passer. So we I mean, it's just kind of a given that once one of us has the ball, we really look for each other. And it's kind of easy. Like it's kind of been almost like second instinct to just be able to just like get the ball to each other. And like be able to play next to each other as we've gone through the summer and till now. Being able to find out what each other likes, what are our go to shots and stuff like that. On the court it matters because it's like, you don't want to get in the way of somebody's shot. For me personally, I love watching Recco play just because his game has evolved so much from the last time I saw him. And so, I always love just like being there, down on the block. Just being like, "that's a tough shot, it's a nice shot." It's been great. We've meshed and it's just been we kind of just came together and it's been great. Whatever I'm bad at, he compliments. Whatever he's bad at, I compliment.
DG: Man, I've learned so much from this dude over the six months we've been together. He comes up to me every time and just critiques everything I do. But I know he's just trying to help me and he wants the best. So yeah, it's been it's been really good. So, I learned a lot. I've been learning a lot from him. You know like he said, like we both great passers and we look for each other on the court. That's pretty much it.
AF: All right, well, I'm excited to see what the Joy Boys do this year. And thank you guys for sharing your story.
