March 30, 2023 – This past weekend I began my 17U travel season with my AAU team, ENG United Raptors. Each year we start out with the RYZE Tip-Off Classic at LakePoint in Atlanta, GA which has some of the top shoe sponsored and independent teams in the Southeast. Here’s how it went.
MY PERFORMANCE: I led the team in assists and deflections, and finished second for steals. In the 4 games we played, I had 31 assists (7.8apg), 14 deflections (3.5dpg), 9 steals (2.25spg), and a 3.4 Assist/TO Ratio. I averaged 7.8ast, 4.3pts, 3.9rpg, 2.25spg, 3.5 deflections, 2.3 TO, and 2.5 fouls. Overall, I shot 8-19 (42% FG, 33% 3-PT), and got fouled a lot but hardly ever got the whistles, so I didn’t shoot a single free throw all weekend – which is crazy.
DAY 1 RESULT: In our first two games we lost by 15pts and 6pts – in that order. The first game we just didn’t close out on shooters and missed too many free throws, as a team. In game #2 we played an unsigned seniors team that beat us at the free throw line. We were the better shooting and rebounding team, we just didn’t make our free throws, and we had one too many turnovers.
DAY 2 RESULT: This day was a little better but, we got off to a slow start in our 10am game against UA Rise team Pro One – a game we really wanted to win. We finally woke up in the second half, but it was too late and we lost by 15. Fortunately, we won our second game by 6pts and got our first win of the spring travel season.
Ultimately, we went 1-3 on the weekend against mostly unsigned seniors; our team has 8 juniors and 2 sophomores. For now, we have to regroup, study film, and get back to practice so that we are ready for our next tournament events.
My next 2 tournaments are the NCAA LIVE PERIODS in Atlanta on April 21-23rd + April 28-30th
