Marian Catholic’s James Bullock Jr. doesn’t have to look too far for inspiration.

The senior forward’s father, James Sr., played basketball at Purdue and led the Boilermakers in 1984-85, averaging 14.2 points and 6.6 rebounds.

“He’s a big influence — he’s the reason I started playing basketball,” Bullock said of his dad. “I’ve been around basketball as soon as I could remember.

“He has shown me game films and has been teaching me things my whole life.”

Bullock’s mother, Nicole, has taught him even more about life and perseverance.

In 2016, she was diagnosed with lymphoma. After beating that, she set up the Nicole Cares Foundation to help patients and family members cope while battling lymphoma.

“She has been doing the foundation to help people who have cancer and anyone else who needs help,” Bullock said of his mom. “She was in serious condition, but we just had faith in God and prayed a lot, and she’s healed. She supports me with everything I do.”

The 6-foot-7 Bullock does a little bit of everything for Marian Catholic.

He and his teammates wrapped up an interesting weekend. Bullock led the Spartans with 12 points in a 54-46 loss to Neuqua Valley at Saturday’s Sandburg Shot Clock Charity Shootout.

Early in the fourth quarter, Bullock and two teammates had to quickly change into other jerseys after getting blood on their uniforms. He went from his customary No. 13 to No. 33.

On Sunday, the Spartans beat Ag Science 64-52 as Jonah Weathers scored 26 points and Bullock added 13.

Bullock, who also plays volleyball, has worked his way into becoming an inside-outside threat for Marian (7-4).

“He’s been a huge matchup advantage for us in all the games,” said Rick Romeli, in his first year as the Spartans’ coach. “He has ability as a post. He has ability to stop out and shoot the three.

“We try to take advantage of that in our offensive structure. He’s done a good job of making overall good decisions, taking care of the basketball, making good plays and making other guys better.”

Bullock, a Lynwood resident, said he has always been one of the tallest players on the court growing up. He started developing his outside shot in high school.

“As a junior, I was able to sink midrange shots,” Bullock said. “It spiraled to 3-pointers.”

He’s getting a chance to show off more of those skills this season with the graduation of Cal-Poly recruit Quentin Jones.

“We’re running more of the offense through him,” Romeli said of Bullock. “With a Division I player with us last year, we structured the offense to get the ball in his hands.

“This year, it’s going through James. We have a lot of juniors, and the only two seniors who are starting are James and Jonah, and so the most part, we’re going to run the actions through them and see there they can take us.”

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The Spartans have a signature win — 71-60 in East Suburban Catholic Conference action over Marist — but their overall body of work needs work.

“We’ve played OK,” Bullock said. “We really shouldn’t have lost that many games, but that’s part of the learning curve and the learning process.

“We’ll be fine. We just have to get back to practice and fix our mistakes.”

Bullock is still waiting to see where basketball can take him. He’s getting looks from area NCAA Division III schools but said he’s not close to making a decision.

He does love basketball, using it as an escape.

“I can take away my problems when I play,” Bullock said. “I don’t have to think about anything else. I can just focus on my game and my teammates.”

Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.