DECATUR, Ill. - "What up, 'lil man?"

It's rare to hear someone greet Lewis Jackson any other way in his hometown.

"He's like, 'That's how they know me from back in the day if they call me Lil Man,' " mother Zinda Chargois-Jackson said.

Jackson isn't entirely sure how or where the nickname came from.

"I guess because I looked older," he said. "By the time I was in fourth grade, I had a moustache."

At Purdue, fans affectionately call him "LewJack."

His aunt Sonja Chargois says that "LewJack" is not just a name but a personality he becomes on the court: A trash-talking, tough-nosed gritty guy.

The opposite of when he's off the court.

Family and friends all mentioned his "big heart."

"He's very kind-hearted, very giving," aunt Tanja Chargois said. "He wants to see other people happy. He wants to put other people's happiness before his happiness. He has a very good heart. I think that's really what makes him a good man, and he's going to continue to strive to become a better man for that reason."