UA Camp: Thursday morning notes
Advertisement
CHARLOTTE, NC -- The Under Armour All-America Camp Powered by
Rivals.com continued on Thursday morning as the No. 1 overall
prospect in the Class of 2016, Josh Jackson, made his camp debut with a
solid performance in a loss for his team. Here's a rundown of the notable action from the
Thursday session.
Easy transition for Jackson
The 6-foot-7 Jackson is coming off of a strong showing at the FIBA U19 World
Championships, where he helped the Americans win gold, so you couldn't
necessarily blame the Detroit native if he came out a little sluggish since he
returned from Greece on Monday night. Instead, Jackson came out with activity on
both ends of the floor, scoring 22 points and adding three rebounds, three
assists and four steals. Also showing well as a help defender, Jackson was
8-for-14 from the field and 2-for-4 from 3-point range as he controlled things
on the offensive end of the floor whenever he had the ball in his hands.
Showing off his very good court vision, Jackson would have tallied more than
three assists had some of his teammates shot the ball a little bit better. For
an elite prospect who could have probably loafed through his opening game, it
was a strong statement from Jackson that he's focused on contributing in all
facets of the game. He buried some tough deep jumpers, got to the rack
off-the-bounce and slowed down five-star forward Billy Preston by defending him
for parts of the second half.
Fultz plays in front of Calipari
Before the start of the Under Armour All-America Camp Powered by
Rivals.com this week, John Calipari and his
Kentucky staff told Markelle Fultz they'd be by to evaluate
him. If he played well, they said, an offer could be on the way.
On Thursday morning, Fultz did everything he could to prove to the Wildcats he
was worthy of the scholarship.
The 6-foot-4, 180-pound wing put on a show in the second game of the morning
session, slashing, knifing and shooting his way to a game-high 19 points.
Afterward, the five-star said he fully expected to receive a Kentucky offer,
which would be big for his recruitment.
"I'm planning to pick up another offer from (Calipari) after this weekend,"
Fultz said. "It's going to make a difference. It will probably be on my list
when I cut it down because that's a school I can see myself going to."
Fultz said he currently has 34 offers, and is looking to trim that list at the
end of July. By August or September, he said he'd like to have a commitment made.
Maker does it again
Calipari wasn't just in the gym for Fultz on Thursday. In the first game of the
morning, the Kentucky head coach was front and center for five-star forward
Thon Maker, who also dazzled in front of UK's head man.
Less than 24 hours after posting 23 points and 17 rebounds, Maker arguably
looked better in Thursday's morning session, tallying 16 points, 21 rebounds,
three blocks, three assists and three steals. At times, the 7-footer was even
asked to run the point for his team, and he made heady passes and saw the court
well.
After the impressive performance, Maker indicated he will definitely play
college ball when he graduates in 2016. And while Calipari's Kentucky and
Bobby Hurley's Arizona State (who also watched Maker in the
morning session) are often linked to Maker, he said he's nowhere close to
figuring out a college destination at this point.
Preston rattles the rim
Billy Preston is a five-star prospect who can do just about everything
on the floor. He has a solid jump shot for a 6-foot-9 power forward, he's a good
rebounder and he can block shots.
Yet during Thursday's morning session, the Dallas (Texas) Prime Prep big man
felt the need to show off his dunking prowess.
Preston had at least four dunks in the first half alone, and nearly had a few
more, just barely missing one that would have sent the YouTube clicks soaring.
"I try to do it a lot," Preston said of his dunking with a smile after the game.
"It gets me going. When I feel like I can tear the rim off, I feel like nobody
wants to get in my way or anything. So I'm going to make my presence felt at the
rim."
Preston has had a solid camp so far, averaging 15 points and 4.5 rebounds in the
week's first two games.
McGusty gets buckets
Four-star shooting guard Kameron McGusty is one of the premier shooting
guards in the Class of 2016 and the Texas native had the full scoring arsenal
going in a morning win for his team. The 6-foot-5 McGusty had an efficient 23
points on 7-for-10 shooting and he also did a great job getting to the foul line
and converting as he went 8-for-9 from the free-throw line.
Scoring the ball from multiple levels on the floor, McGusty was particularly
impressive getting to the basket and making plays. The No. 36 overall prospect
in the Rivals 150, McGusty can fit through tight spaces in traffic and create
shots that not many other guards in the class can produce.
Green and Duval go head-to-head
Class of 2017 guards Quade Green and Trevon Duval are
backcourt running mates on the grassroots circuit with WE R1, but the teammates
went head-to-head during camp play on Thursday morning. Green, a four-star point
guard and native of Philadelphia, has been arguably the most productive guard in
camp through two sessions of play as he went for 19 points and three assists in
a win for his team. The 5-foot-11 Green plays with a smooth style and his
ability to split defenders and knife through traffic makes him tough to defend
on high ball screens. All the while, Green seems to be in complete command of
the offense and he does a nice job of distributing and finding teammates when
he's not hunting his own shot. Going against five-star teammate Duval, a
6-foot-3 guard, Green was the more consistent point guard and he limited
turnovers and made strong basketball plays.
As for Duval, he had a tough go of it finishing shots at the rim, but he still
ended up with 12 points, six rebounds and six assists as he generally played a
decent floor game. Sometimes Duval tries to do too much, as evidenced by his
five turnovers and 4-for-16 showing from the field, but he can hit another gear
athletically that very few guards in the country can match.
Hunter has a good outing
Philadelphia native and four-star small forward Deandre Hunter was one
of the better two-way wings during the morning session of camp and the Class of
2016 product had a great showing playing alongside Kameron McGusty. As
a complimentary scorer to McGusty, Hunter did plenty of damage on his own,
scoring on straight-line drives, hitting a couple of deep jumpers and also
making plays on the defensive end of the floor that helped lead to stops.
The 6-foot-7 Hunter finished with 18 points, eight rebounds, two assists and a
steal as he went 6-for-9 from the field and 2-for-3 from 3-point range. After a
very quiet first game of camp, Hunter seemed to find himself on Thursday and he
played with more confidence on the offensive end than he has for much of the
spring.
Bounce-back game for Felton
North Carolina commit and five-star point guard Jalek Felton
shook off a mediocre opening night of camp to put up a double-double performance
in a close loss on Thursday morning. After going only 1-for-8 from the floor on
Wednesday night, Felton finished with 11 points on 4-for-8 shooting and also did
a terrific job orchestrating the pick-and-roll with teammate DeAndre Ayton.
With the five-star Ayton not getting many touches on the offensive end the night
before, Felton made sure to get his big man involved frequently as the duo ran
four straight pick-and-rolls at one point and seemed to have a nice chemistry
when Ayton would slip to the rim. Felton found Ayton and other teammates for a
total of 11 assists and he mostly kept things simple for his team on the
offensive end. Still making some flashy plays that led to a few turnovers, this
was still a much more positive showing for Felton and he was tough for the
defense to check on Thursday.
Solid floor game
Expectations are always high for five-star point guard Seventh Woods
and the South Carolina native had a very good floor game on Thursday morning in
a win for his team. The 6-foot-2 Class of 2016 star is noted for his tremendous
athleticism, but he played a very controlled game on Thursday, going for 15
points and adding five rebounds and three assists. Even more impressive was
Woods finishing with zero turnovers, as he did a nice job of finding good angles
to make entry passes to his big men so they could go to work in the post.
Shooting 3-for-8 from the field, Woods wasn't hitting many jumpers, but he
counteracted his so-so shooting performance by getting to the free-throw line 10
times and converting nine of those attempts. If Woods continues to play like a
true point guard, his stock will rise since he's already a high-level athlete.
His feel for the position has continued to improve over the last year.
News and notes
Maker has
gotten a lot of the limelight on his team this week in Charlotte, but power
forward Mitch Lightfoot has strung together two really nice
performances alongside Maker as well. The Arizona big had 16 points and seven
rebounds in the first game of the morning session, and he took at least three
charges too. Lightfoot said Arizona, Stanford, Kansas and Utah have all been
standing out so far to him. He's already officially visited Stanford and is
planning officials to Kansas and possibly Arizona soon too.
Four-star wing
Micah Thomas doesn't always have the prettiest stroke, but during
Thursday's morning session, he was able to go four-for-eight from the floor,
including two 3-pointers. He said schools like Ole Miss,
pledge at the moment. He said he's looking to visit LSU, Florida and
Texas in the next few months, and he's hopeful to have a final list made before
his senior season begins.
Four-star
shooting guard Sam Cunliffe showed off a smooth stroke in the morning's
second game. Afterward, he said his Arizona State commitment is still
strong, but he wasn't quite ready to deem himself 100 percent solid just yet. He
said California has been one school that has stayed in the picture
despite his pledge last month.
