The first of three July live periods for NCAA college basketball recruiting has come to end today with championship games at the Nike EYBL Peach Jam and the Adidas Gauntlet.
Here is a summary of the IU related news and notes from the weekend.
THE NIKE EYBL
The only primary IU targets that IU has already offered that advanced into the weekend at the Peach Jam were Isaiah Stewart of City Rocks and Anthony Harris of Team Takeover.
Stewart and Harris went head to head in the single elimination tournament action on Saturday, with Team Takeover eliminating Stewart and City Rocks by a score of 65-57. Stewart was his usual dominant self, but he had little help. He had 24 points and 12 rebounds, while hitting 12 of 17 from the field.
You can watch highlights from that game here. Stewart is #33 in black and Harris is #3 in gray.
Harris doesn’t wow you with stats, but he is a fundamentally strong point guard that leads and plays defense. He helped lead Team Takeover to the Peach Jam title. He was averaging 9.0 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.9 assists on a stacked team going into the Peach Jam final game. Team Takeover was 23-1 over the course of the Nike EYBL.
Kira Lewis had another big game on Saturday as the Georgia Stars made it to the semifinals of the Peach Invitational before bowing out to Las Vegas. Lewis scored 20 points on 9 of 17 shooting.
THE ADIDAS GAUNTLET
At the Adidas Gauntlet, the D1 Minnesota team that includes IU targets Matthew Hurt and Zeke Nnaji made it to Sunday’s championship final. They came up short against the Compton Magic 87-83 in two overtimes.
Hurt had a solid weekend in New York. In five games he averaged 20.4 points on 60% shooting from the field. He added 6 rebounds and 2.6 assists. If he had a weakness it was from 3-point range where he shot 33%.
Rivals reported that on Sunday, Mike Krzyzewski, John Calipari and Bill Self were all on hand along with assistants from North Carolina, Indiana, Minnesota and Memphis to watch the five star forward.
Nnaji didn’t put up as big of numbers as Hurt, but he was still effective and efficient. In five games he averaged 11.4 points on 53.3% from the field with 4.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists.
On a side note, 247 Sports is reporting that Nnaji is planning to take a late summer unofficial visit to Bloomington.
UNDER ARMOUR CHALLENGE
IU target Samari Curtis continued in action at the Under Armour Challenge and Archie Miller was there to watch. As we previously reported, Indiana wanted to watch Curtis before extending an offer. It will be interesting to see whether IU does now offer, especially in light of D.J. Carton’s decision.
247 Sports updated his recruitment here ($). When Curtis was asked what he liked about the Hoosiers he had this to say:
“I like the way they play. They use a lot of pick and rolls and they let their guards play, so I like that a lot. Also I liked their campus, and the fans just love basketball there.”
WHAT’S NEXT
The next two July live periods are as follows:
- July 18th (5 PM) to July 22nd (5 PM)
- July 25th (5 PM) to July 29th (5 PM)
On the Adidas Gauntlet, D1 Minnesota will play at the Adidas Summer Championships in Orange County California.
Teams from multiple circuits will compete at the “Brawl for the Ball” in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
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