By ARTHUR WARNER-KAMSLER
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — On Friday night, JaQuan Lyle should have been playing for the Oregon Ducks as they took on Toledo.
Instead, he started for IMG Academy in the National Prep Showcase at Albertus Magnus College.
Lyle, a 6-foot-5, 215 pound combo guard, scored 17 points and added two rebounds and two assists for IMG, where he is taking a postgraduate year after not being admitted to Oregon.
In what has been a hectic couple of months for Lyle, he is focused on figuring out where he will take his last couple of official visits.
“I’ll probably take two or three more and then decide probably late January, early February,” Lyle said.
Lyle said he is still considering Oregon, Ohio State, Xavier, Indiana, and Missouri for his remaining visits after going to LSU earlier this month. He said he enjoyed the LSU trip and that 6-10 Ben Simmons is working hard to land him and Antonio Blakeney.
Lyle did say that Oregon has an advantage in recruiting him because he already committed to the school and he “loves the facilities and the coaching staff.” However, he opened up his recruitment just to make sure he chooses the right school.
Lyle also said he remains in touch with his former high school coach at Huntington Prep, Rob Fulford, now an assistant coach at Missouri, and that he talks to Ohio Sate head coach Thad Matta “nearly every day.”
SPELLMAN HAS A SLEW OF OFFERS
Omari Spellman, the No. 22 player in the 2016 class according to 247Sports’ composite rankings, was less sure about his future recruitment when he spoke after his MacDuffie School team lost to Hargrave Military Academy.
Spellman scored 21 points and grabbed seven rebounds in what was a mixed effort. The 6-9, 240 pound Spellman mainly floated around the perimeter during the first half while settling for jump shots until using his impressive size to assert himself inside when his team started to fall behind in the second half.
Spellman has offers from a huge number of high major programs, including: UConn, Arizona, UCLA, Virginia, Memphis, Ohio State, St. Johns, Rutgers, Florida, Pittsburgh, Seton Hall, Villanova, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Miami, Iowa, Indiana, West Virginia, Cincinnati, and UNLV. (Despite previous reports, he doesn’t hold a Kentucky offer.)
Spellman says he has yet to put any real thought into the recruiting process and still needs to sit down with his mom and coaches to figure out where he wants to go.
Spellman has visited both UConn and Villanova for their Midnight Madness festivities but is in no rush to schedule any more visits.
“That stuff is up to my mom,” Spellman said.
FREE THROWS
Danjel Purifoy of Hargrave Military Academy was the most impressive player of the day at the NPS. The Auburn commit scored 29 points and grabbed 8 rebounds while also hitting four 3-pointers and guarding both the 6-9 Spellman and 6-10 Jordy Tshimanga. Purifoy is a physical specimen at 6-7, 215 pounds and was nearly unstoppable once his outside shot started to fall.
Two of Purifoy’s teammates, Rutgers’ signees Kejuan Johnson and Justin Goode,were significantly less impressive as both players struggled to even crack Hargrave’s rotation. Goode, a 6-2 guard with a nice 3-point stroke, scored just three points in 13 minutes. The 6-6, 225 pound Johnson spent most of his 11 minutes of playing time as an undersized center and showed little of the perimeter skills he will probably need to succeed in the Big Ten.
Northwestern commit Aaron Falzon (No. 117 247 composite for 2015) of Northfield Mount Hermon was another standout offensive force as he scored 29 points from all over court, including three 3-pointers, while also securing nine rebounds.
The day was also marked by the abscene of many of the Showcase’s big names as Cheick Diallo, Josh Sharma, Trayvon Reed and Andre Adams all missed their teams’ games.
