Adam Zagoria covers basketball at all levels. He is the author of two books and an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Sports Illustrated, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide.
Fresh Off Gold Medals, Tatum, Giles Expected to Draw Big Crowds at Peach Jam
Fresh off winning gold medals with the USA U19 team at the World Championship in Greece on Sunday, 2016 stars Jayson Tatum and Harry Giles are expected to compete this week at the Nike Peach Jam.
The 6-foot-8 Tatum will play with the St. Louis Eagles, while the 6-10 Giles is on the CP3 roster. The teams are in different pools in the Under-17 bracket and won’t meet during pool play, which begins Thursday at 9 a.m.
Tatum went for 13 points in Sunday’s 79-71 overtime victory over Croatia, while Giles had 13 points and 16 rebounds.
“Man, it feels great,” said Tatum, who set Twitter afire with this dunk below on a Greek defender. “This is my third one, but by far the most exciting. It was the toughest one. Game in and game out, there were no easy ones. It was the toughest game I’ve played in so far. I’m just excited we won.”
Giles struggled in shooting 4-for-20 but was a monster on the boards and scored some key buckets late.
“You just have to find another way to affect the game, and that is what I tried to do with my rebounding,” Giles said. “Normally I hit shots like those, but they were falling out, so I just had to affect the game a different way.”
As far as recruiting, Tatum is down to Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina and St. Louis and broke down all four schools here. He told me before the U19 Worlds he could pull the trigger this month.
“Hopefully in July, sometime in July,” he said of a decision date. “Yeah, probably sometime when I get back.”
As for Giles, he has a list of eight schools but told me before Greece four were working the hardest.
“Probably Duke, Kentucky, Carolina, Wake Forest, probably those four,” he said.
Giles said he hopes to take some visits later this summer and then cut his list once more.
“I’ll probably cut it again after I take a couple visits to schools, so probably end of the summer,” he said. “I’m trying to plan some visits though.”
Photo: Jonathan Givony
Adam Zagoria is a Basketball Insider who covers basketball at all levels. A contributor to The New York Times and SportsNet New York (SNY), he is also the author of two books and is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker. His articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide. He also won an Emmy award for his work on the SNY mini-documentary on Syracuse guard Tyus Battle.
A veteran Ultimate Frisbee player, he has competed in numerous National and World Championships and, perhaps more importantly, his teams won the Westchester Summer League (WSL) championships in 2011 and 2013.
He lives in Manhattan with his wife and children.
Fresh off winning gold medals with the USA U19 team at the World Championship in Greece on Sunday, 2016 stars Jayson Tatum and Harry Giles are expected to compete this week at the Nike Peach Jam.
The 6-foot-8 Tatum will play with the St. Louis Eagles, while the 6-10 Giles is on the CP3 roster. The teams are in different pools in the Under-17 bracket and won’t meet during pool play, which begins Thursday at 9 a.m.
Tatum went for 13 points in Sunday’s 79-71 overtime victory over Croatia, while Giles had 13 points and 16 rebounds.
“Man, it feels great,” said Tatum, who set Twitter afire with this dunk below on a Greek defender. “This is my third one, but by far the most exciting. It was the toughest one. Game in and game out, there were no easy ones. It was the toughest game I’ve played in so far. I’m just excited we won.”
Giles struggled in shooting 4-for-20 but was a monster on the boards and scored some key buckets late.
“You just have to find another way to affect the game, and that is what I tried to do with my rebounding,” Giles said. “Normally I hit shots like those, but they were falling out, so I just had to affect the game a different way.”
As far as recruiting, Tatum is down to Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina and St. Louis and broke down all four schools here. He told me before the U19 Worlds he could pull the trigger this month.
“Hopefully in July, sometime in July,” he said of a decision date. “Yeah, probably sometime when I get back.”
As for Giles, he has a list of eight schools but told me before Greece four were working the hardest.
“Probably Duke, Kentucky, Carolina, Wake Forest, probably those four,” he said.
Giles said he hopes to take some visits later this summer and then cut his list once more.
“I’ll probably cut it again after I take a couple visits to schools, so probably end of the summer,” he said. “I’m trying to plan some visits though.”
Photo: Jonathan Givony
