KSR Today: Peach Jam rolls on, Ugonna Kingsley and Abby Steiner
Good morning, Big Blue Nation! Happy Friday to each of you.
KSR is live once again from North Augusta for the Nike Peach Jam, the most prestigious high school recruiting event of the summer. It started with pool play, and now, we’re getting into the good stuff with tournament action. Some teams’ title dreams are being crushed, while others remain very much alive.
Where do things stand with Kentucky basketball’s top recruiting targets? Let’s take a closer look.
Top targets have up-and-down performances on Thursday at Peach Jam
Kentucky pledge Rob Dillingham continued to steal the show on Thursday, solidifying himself once again as arguably the best point guard at the event.
He finished with a team-high 14 points on 5-13 shooting to go with five assists, two rebounds and two steals in a win over the NH Lightning.
Elsewhere, 2024 guard target Elliot Cadeau was sensational for the Lightning, putting up 15 points, eight assists, seven rebounds, three steals and two blocks in the tight loss. His backcourtmate, 2024 five-star guard Tahaad Pettiford — who picked up a scholarship offer from Kentucky last week — struggled, finishing with just six points on 2-13 shooting and 0-5 from three to go with two assists and three turnovers in 25 minutes.
How about Kentucky’s top recruiting priority, DJ Wagner? He put up 20 points in a loss, but finished just 9-21 from the field and 0-7 from three to go with four rebounds and one assist. His teammate, Aaron Bradshaw, added five points, three rebounds and two blocks in 22 minutes.
On the other side, 2024 five-star guard Amier Ali impressed, finishing with 18 points on 5-9 shooting, 3-5 from three and 5-8 from the line to go with seven rebounds, two assists, two steals and one block in the win.
Inefficient play continued on Thursday for Kentucky’s top targets, as Justin Edwards added 10 points on 5-14 shooting and 0-5 from three to go with four rebounds and three steals in a loss.
To round out the evening, 2024 five-star guard Tre Johnson — the second player to receive an offer from Kentucky in the rising junior class — finished with 12 points on 5-14 shooting and 2-8 from three to go with five assists, four rebounds and one steal.
Friday’s Peach Jam schedule
What does Friday’s schedule look like? Check out when all of Kentucky’s top targets play below:
- Meanstreets vs. Team Griffin (Tre Johnson) – 5 p.m. ET (Court 3/4)
- Florida Rebels (Karter Knox) vs. PSA Cardinals – 5 p.m. ET (Court 5)
- Team Durant (KJ Evans) vs. Team Final (Justin Edwards) – 6:30 p.m. ET (Court 2)
- CP3 (Rob Dillingham) vs. NJ Scholars (DJ Wagner, Aaron Bradshaw) – 6:30 p.m. ET (Court 3/4)
- City Rocks vs. Houston Hoops (Amier Ali) – 8 p.m. ET (Court 2)
- NH Lightning (Tahaad Pettiford, Elliot Cadeau) vs. All Ohio – 8 p.m. ET (Court 6)
Ugonna Kingsley wraps up official visit to Kentucky, reclassifies to 2022
John Calipari walked into Peach Jam on Thursday with a pep in his step. Why? Maybe because the Wildcats just wrapped up a successful official visit with five-star center Ugonna Kingsley back in Lexington.
Shortly after the trip came to an end, news broke that Kingsley would be making his college commitment shortly after his third and final official visit to Oklahoma, which starts Sunday. To put the icing on the cake, he will be reclassifying into the class of 2022, meaning he will enroll early and could be in uniform by the time Kentucky makes its way to the Bahamas in August — assuming he commits, of course.
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What are the chances of that happening? Fairly likely, especially considering Kingsley has made it clear from the start that Kentucky was his favorite school growing up.
“I’ve been wanting to go to Kentucky all my life, even before coming to the states,” Kingsley told On3 in June. “I don’t really know much about the school yet, but I know it is a good program for athletes, a lot of their guys are pros. I know Oscar Tshiebwe is also from (Africa), it means a lot he has had great success there.”
He sure does look comfortable wearing Kentucky blue…
We’ll find out if he’s a Wildcat sooner rather than later.
Abby Steiner finishes fifth at World Championships
Former Kentucky track and field superstar Abby Steiner proved her talent on the sport’s biggest stage Thursday night.
In the final of the 200-meter dash at the World Track and Field Championships, the Dublin (Ohio) Coffman alum finished fifth with a run of 22.26 seconds out in Eugene, Oregon.
Coming in as the heavy favorite, Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson set the record with a 21.46 time to earn a gold medal in the event.
The performance for Steiner was a step back after the sprinter logged 22.15 time in the semifinal heat. However, the record pace set by Jackson was going to be very hard to top.
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