5/12/2019 basketball Edit

Starring in EYBL, Jaden Ivey helped his team to big finish in Indy

Brian Neubert • BoilerUpload

GoldandBlack.com staff

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WESTFIELD — It's important to Jaden Ivey to conclude his summer basketball career having played in the Peach Jam, the Nike circuit's signature July event.

"It would be the experience of a lifetime," Ivey said.

That's part of the reason the Purdue recruit was visibly elated following his Indy Heat team's finale — a 92-83 win over Georgia's Athletes of Tomorrow — at the Nike EYBL event in Westfield on Sunday.

The Indiana-based program was a pleasantly surprising 4-0 at the first EYBL session in Atlanta, positioning it with margin for error as it looks to secure its place in the Peach Jam field. Seven or eight wins should do it, it was thought prior to this weekend.

This session got off sideways, though, as Indy Heat dropped its first two games.

The past two, however, things turned, as it played at a high enough level against Team Why Not and AOT — two teams with elite players — to amass substantial leads, then with enough composure and enough timely contributions to win after those leads had mostly gone by the wayside.

Ivey was a big part of it — 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting vs. Why Not and 16 on 6-of-10 shooting Sunday morning vs. AOT — but so too were D'Andre Davis, Caleb Furst and Johnell Davis, etc., along with guard Nijel Pack, coming back from an injury that might have affected him earlier during this weekend.

"It was confidence," Ivey said of Indy Heat's turnaround. "The first two games, we didn't come in with confidence and it showed. We didn't shoot the ball well and we didn't facilitate the ball well. We need to lock in, and that's what we did the past two games."

Saturday morning's loss to Georgia Stars, in which Ivey scored six points on 2-of-9 shooting, aside, Purdue's first 2020 commitment played very well in Westfield, averaging 15-and-a-half points, making 56 percent of his shots, including 9-of-17 threes.

"I thought I played great," Ivey said. "I was inconsistent on my free throws, and I don't know what that was. I don't really miss free throws, but this (2-for-7 game vs. AOT), I don't know what was going on. Next circuit (in Dallas), I'll be good."

Ivey is known largely as a shooter, but throughout the weekend in the Indy area, he was particularly strong at the rim, breaking opponents down off the dribble for sometimes acrobatic finishes.

"People might see the scouting report and think that I'm just a shooter, who might just go to the basket occasionally," Ivey said, "but my mindset is that if you're going to back up off of me, I'm going to let it fly, but if you come up, I'm going to drive it. ... When they came out on me, that's a wide-open lane for me."

A week ago at the Hensley Memorial Run 'N Slam in Fort Wayne, with Pack sidelined, Ivey played as Indy Heat's primary ball-handler, and played very well. This weekend, he played more alongside Pack, off the ball more, and was just as effective, highlighting the combo-guard versatility that stands as significant value added as a recruit.

Ivey said he isn't any more comfortable — or better — as a scorer in one role or the other.

"I think that's what I do best," he said. "I'm a combo guard."

With the Westfield event in the books, Indy Heat sits at 6-2 in EYBL, probably needing just another win or two — if that — to qualify for the Peach Jam.

Ivey's been a centerpiece of it.

His EYBL numbers through eight games are exceptional.

The Mishawaka Marian guard is averaging 15.1 points on 60-percent shooting, 57 percent from three-point range, on significant volume, an average of three-and-a-half attempts per game. He's also averaged better than three assists.

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