Minnesota Basketball Recruiting: Gopher Targets and Howard Pulley in the EYBL Peach Jam

This week and next are huge weeks in the college basketball recruiting world. The Nike EYBL circuit is culminating this week in the prestigious Peach Jam. All summer the teams in the EYBL have been trying to earn their way into the Peach Jam. The Gophers have some key targets participating and the local Howard Pulley club is one of the favorites.

Gopher Commits

Just one commit at this point.

Daniel Orturu - Howard Pulley

Orturu is averaging 14.5 points and 9.5 rebounds in the first two games of pool play. Very consistent play and Orturu is clearly active on both ends of the floor and is helping his team by grabbing 6 offensive rebounds per game (5 and 7 in the two games) leading to an average of 9 second chance points per game.

Gopher Targets

Tre Jones - Howard Pulley

In game 1 of pool play Jones struggled for most of the game. He was 4 of 16 shooting until the final possession with his team trailing by 2. I’ll let Ryan James’ recap on Gopher Illustrated do the talking here...(note his stats differ from the EYBL box score, but the point is that Jones struggled shooting and hit the game-winner)

With about 30 seconds left on the clock Tre Jones was 3 of 18 from the floor having a terrible night shooting in front of Coach K and assistants from UCLA, USC, Oregon, Ohio State, and Minnesota. With the score tied and having seen so many of his attempts fall off the rim in a bad way, Jones attacked the rim using an Oturu screen and got to the rim releasing after contact. The whistle blew and Jones was knocked to the floor and bloodied, but the initial focus was the ball on the rim falling in. Tre then made the foul shot and put his team into the W column with 11 points, six assists, and five boards.

Jones bounced back in game 2 with 30 points, including 13 made free throws. Overall he is averaging 21.5 points, 6 rebounds and 3.5 assists while having head and assistant coaches from many of the top schools in the country watching him.

Gabe Kalscheur - Howard Pulley

Kalscheur had a huge game in game 1 against MOKAN Elite with 22 point on 7/12 shooting (5/8 from three). In game 2 he struggled, not hitting a field goal and finishing with 1 point.

Brendan Adams - Team Melo

His team is 0-2 but Adams led all scorers against NY Lightning with 23 points and then scored 11 in the loss to Howard Pulley.

Adams is a combo guard who is one of my personal favorites if we are unable to land the local kids that we are pursuing. With his team sitting at 0-2 (and still having to play MOKAN) it seems like a tough road ahead if they want to advance.

Jarvis Thomas - Howard Pulley

4 points and 3 boards in the opener against MOKAN when he was often guarding Jontay Porter (a 4-star Missouri commit). In game two he finished with 5 points and 9 rebounds with 4 blocks.

Howard Pulley

With four high-major players and Tre Jones running the show, this team is one of the favorites to win their pool and possibly win the Peach Jam. MOKAN Elite was arguably their biggest challenger in their pool and they managed to sneak out a 1-point win.

They play NY Lightning tonight and then 2 games tomorrow (all games are streamed online) before championship play begins.