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players era festival

Michigan Wins Title at Players Era Championship with Dominant Performance

by Carl Berman
written by Carl Berman

Las Vegas, NV. – Michigan completed an amazing performance, winning the title at the  Players Era Championship in Las Vegas with a 101-61 shellacking of previously undefeated Gonzaga. The Wolverines won their three games by a combined 110 points in the best performance at any major basketball event that I have witnessed. Yaxel Lendeborg led the winners with 20 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and two highlight reel dunks.

Michigan notched dominant wins over San Diego State (94-54) and Auburn (102-72) before tonight’s performance. This game was never in doubt as the Wolverines raced out to a 20-5 lead and went into the half leading by 24 points. The second half was the same as Michigan kept increasing their lead to as much as 46 points. Michigan’s frontcourt of 7’3 Aday Mara, 6’9 Morez Johnson Jr. and the 6’9 Lendeborg bottled up the inside and took Gonzaga’s Graham Ike out of his game. Ike finished with one point missing on all of his nine field goal attempts. Michigan outscored Gonzaga 30-0 on layups. Besides Lendeborg’s efforts, Johnson Jr. finished with 11 points (5-6 FG), five rebounds and two blocks. Mara added 13 points, four rebounds and three blocks while Lendeborg added two blocked shots of his own.

Beside completely dominating the game inside, the Wolverines receive excellent performances from their guards. Starting point guard Elliot Cadeau dished out 13 assists against only two turnovers. Nimari Burnett (14 points) connected on all four of his three-point attempts and added six boards. Freshman Trey McKinney came off the bench to score 17 points over 21 minutes and made 3-of-5 from deep. Roddy Gayle Jr. connected on all his three shots and scored nine points.  The thought on Michigan prior to the season was that if they could get good play and decent three-point shooting from their guards they could be one of the best teams in the nation. That has been happening, as tonight their rotation guards combined to shoot 8-of-14 on 3’s and contributed 23 assists against only 10 turnovers.

The Wolverines shot 13-of-27 from deep in total while shooting 60% from the field overall. They held the Zags to 3-of-22 shooting on 3’s and only 33.8% overall.  For Gonzaga, Tyon Grant-Foster played hard throughout, scoring 14 points and grabbing eight rebounds. Braden Huff had some success inside, finishing with 14 points and six boards before fouling out. All in all, it was a performance to remember from Michigan this week in Las Vegas.

This article was written by Carl Berman, Managing Partner of NetScouts Basketball. You can follow us on Instagram, or on twitter.

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Iowa State, St. John’s Cruise to Wins at Players Era Championship 

by Carl Berman
written by Carl Berman

Las Vegas, NV. – The Iowa State Cyclones and Creighton Bluejays tipped off Day two of the  Players Era Championship at Mandalay Bay. Playing without their star point guard Tamin Lipsey, who was out with a lower body injury, Iowa State was impressive and took care of Creighton 78-60. The Cyclones led 40-26 at the half and Creighton never made a serious run in the second half.

The Cyclones extended their lead in the second half helped by the play of 6’9 Joshua Jefferson. The senior finished the game with 18 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. He made a nice pass to Killyan Toure for a layup that extended the lead to 18 points. Toure, a 6’3 freshman from France by way of Brewster Academy, was active throughout and highlighted his athleticism as he led Iowa State with 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting and added four rebounds. 6’8 shooter Milan Moncilovic battled foul trouble but finished with ten points on 2-of-4 from deep. Josh Dix tried to keep Creighton in the game, connecting on three second half 3’s as he scored 15 points and added six assists.

In the second game St. John’s got off to a hot start in their game against Baylor thanks to Oziyah Sellers.  The 6’5 Stanford transfer scored 13 early points as the Red Storm raced off to a 21-6 lead. The Bears reduced their deficit for five points on several instances helped from 6’5 Cameron Carr’s 14 points. Carr continued his excellent play at the event, hitting all three of his 3’s and converting 5-of-6 shots overall. The Red Storm’s Bryce Hopkins was active throughout the half. He scored 11 points, hitting his only three-point attempt and making 4-of-6 from the field.  Baylor’s Tounde Yessoufou had problems converting, especially inside, making only 1-of-9 shots in scoring three points. Baylor had a 25-14 rebounding advantage, including 17-3 on the offensive bords but didn’t really take advantage of that, with only a 12-7 edge in second chance points.

St. John’s came out strong and scored the first eight points of the second half, expanding their lead to 17 points. Yessoufou (15 points, 5-17 FG) tried to get the Bears going with two driving layups and a three-pointer but it was too little, too late. The Red Storm maintained a double-digit lead and cruised to a 96-81 win. Carr led the Bears with 25 points on 5-of-7 from deep.

Bryce Hopkins has been injured much of the past few seasons and seems to be hitting his stride. He finished with 26 points, hitting 3-of-6 3’s and added five rebounds and five assists. Sellers had 22 points on 5-of-7 from deep while Dillon Mitchell added 18 points, shooting 8-of-10 along with a team-high six assists. The Red Storm had an extremely efficient offensive game, shooting 57.4% from the field including 11-of-22 on three-pointers.

This article was written by Carl Berman, Managing Partner of NetScouts Basketball. You can follow us on Instagram, or on twitter.

We are looking for those interested in our basketball scout apprenticeship program. For information contact us and forward your resume.

Oregon Falls to Auburn at Players Era Festival 

by Carl Berman
written by Carl Berman

Las Vegas, NV. – The Oregon Ducks and Auburn Tigers opened the evening session of the  Players Era Festival at Mandalay Bay. Auburn pulled away late in the game to top Oregon 84-73. Tahaad Pettiford led the winners with 24 points on 9-of-18 shooting and added four assists and four rebounds. Takai Simpkins led the Ducks with 22 points, connecting on 5-of-8 3’s and making all seven of his free throws.

Auburn scored eight straight points late in the game, expanding a 60-59 lead to 68-59 and coasted to the win from there. Oregon couldn’t overcome off nights from their two top players, Jackson Shelstad and Nate Bittle. The two combined to shoot 6-of-28 from the field, including 2-of-15 from deep. Oregon was very loose with the ball (18 turnovers) and their spacing was poor on offense as in multiple sets there were four players on one end of the court. Simpkins made five poor passes and finished with seven turnovers. The team is still searching for a reliable secondary initiator on offense.

Bittle’s ineffectiveness inside helped Auburn gain a 38-24 advantage in points in the paint. The Tigers also held a 26-8 edge on layup points as the Ducks only had one blocked shot in the game. Pettiford has his way on offense, using his tight handle to continually create space from Oregon’s defenders and get off his shots. Neither team shot particularly well. Auburn was 5-of-23 on 3’s (21.7%) while Oregon connected on only 9-of-33 (27.3%). The difference was in Auburn’s effectiveness inside and on two-point shots where they converted 25-of-42 (59.5%) compared to Oregon’s 14-of-28. Because of their turnovers and general poor shooting the Ducks’ +12 edge in rebounding did not amount to much.

The teams battled to a 37-37 tie at the close of the first half. The Ducks had problems containing Auburn’s  Pettiford, The 6’1 Pettiford used his handle to get past Oregon’s defenders repeatedly. He finished the half as the leading scorer with 13 points on 6-of-12 shooting. Oregon’s 7’0 center, Nate Bittle led his team with 10 points and seven rebounds, banking in a three-pointer to even the game before the halftime break. Takai Simpkins added nine points on 3-of-4 from deep but was sloppy on his passing with five turnovers, The Ducks committed ten turnovers in the half compared to only three by Auburn with the Tigers having an 8-3 edge in points off turnovers.

Oregon will play San Diego State in the final game tomorrow night while Auburn goes on to face Michigan.

This article was written by Carl Berman, Managing Partner of NetScouts Basketball. You can follow us on Instagram, or on twitter.

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Baylor and Iowa State Notch Wins at Players Era Festival 

by Carl Berman
written by Carl Berman

Las Vegas, NV. – The Players Era Festival kicked off today at the arenas at Mandalay Bay and the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. This year 18 teams are participating, up from eight last year. In the opener at Mandalay Bay Baylor topped Creighton 81-74 in an entertaining game. Cameron Carr led the Bears with 21 points and nine rebounds. Baylor controlled the boards, out rebounding the Bluejays 45-27.

Carr showed high-level athleticism and a nice mid-range shot. He didn’t attempt any three-pointers but had a nice high release on his jumpers. He converted 7-of-8 free throws and is 9-of-17 from deep so far this season so there can be some optimism on his shooting. Tounde Yessoufou, a likely lottery pick in the 2026 NBA draft, did not have his best game. Yessoufou scored 11 points on 4-of-12 shooting and added five rebounds. He did connect on 2-of-4 on threes today. Yessoufou is 6’5 with a strong body and will need to improve his shooting to rise up the draft boards.

Hudson Greer, a 6’7 guard led Creighton with 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting. Shooting guard Josh Dix added 15 points by shot only 1-of-5 from deep. He led Creighton with six assists.

Iowa State outlasted St. John’s 83-82 in the second game. Milan Momcilovic led the winners with 23 points, hitting 5-of-9 from deep. Oziyah Sellers had a nice game for the Red Storm, finishing with 20 points on 5-of-6 three-pointers. Center Zuby Ejiofor added 16 points to go along with nine rebounds and five assists for St. John’s. The Red Storm had a chance to tie the game in the closing seconds, but Ejiofor could not connect on a three-pointer.

Joshua Jefferson, a 6’9 forward, played well for the Cyclones ending the contest with 17 points, eight rebounds and three assists. He came up with some big rebounds and good defensive stops near the end of the game. Bryce Hopkins had 16 points and seven rebounds for St. John’s and connected on all ten of his free throws. St, John’s only made 7-of-20 threes with players other than Sellers shooting only 2-of-14.

Tomorrow, St. John’s will face Baylor while Iowa State plays Creighton.

This article was written by Carl Berman, Managing Partner of NetScouts Basketball. You can follow us on Instagram, or on twitter.

We are looking for those interested in our basketball scout apprenticeship program. For information contact us and forward your resume.