DEBUT OF KING, HUDSON OFFERS ST. VINCENT-ST. MARY BRIGHT FUTURE
He may only be a freshman, but 6-7 guard VJ King is well aware of the implications of donning the same colors LeBron James put on the map in high school.
?It?s just a great honor to play for this school and this tradition,? King said. ?I?m in the locker room and I put on this jersey, and I get chills. It?s just a great honor to play for this team.?
Irish coach Dru Joyce was equally happy King was in a St. V-M jersey, along with 6-6 junior Jalen Hudson who moved from Virginia before this school year, as the duo was instrumental in the 68-65 victory over University (IL) High School.
Hudson scored a team-high 23 points and had 9 rebounds, while King scored 18. King hit a free throw to give the Irish a 67-65 lead with 19.9 seconds left, and after he missed the second, Hudson grabbed the rebound and was fouled. Hudson split a pair of free-throws to give his team a three-point lead with 14.7 left.
Ohio State-bound 6-7 wing Keita Bates-Diop?s game-tying three-point attempt with two seconds left barely got over King?s outstretched arm and bounced off the rim, giving St. Vincent-St. Mary a season-opening victory.
?They?re two great additions to the program,? Joyce said. ?We?re thankful we have them. We graduated four from last year, and when these two guys came five other ones transferred. Nick Wells is really the only guy with varsity experience. We?re pleased with how things went.?
Wells, a 6-6 scrappy forward inside, finished with 14 points and 13 rebounds for the short-handed Irish, who had several players competing in the state football championship Saturday (they won).
While no one is claiming King is the next King, it is obvious he will be heavily recruited as his size, skill and athleticism for a freshman is rare. But he wasn?t as concerned with making a name for himself as one of the country?s premier freshmen in front of thousands of people at the UIC Pavilion as he was with trying to stick 2014 top-50 recruit Bates-Diop.
?It was a great matchup and a lot of fun,? King said. ?He?s a great player and I can see why Ohio State offered him. It was a challenge, but I wanted to take on the challenge of going against him. It was fun to play him.?
Joyce, who?s been plugged into the high school and club basketball scene for decades, wasn?t as coy about the talent and potential King possesses.
?Skill-wise he?s off the charts,? Joyce said. ?He can put it down, he plays with patience and he has a nice rhythm to his game. He doesn?t get rattled. He?s a great passer and he showed today he had a great guy he had to defend and he didn?t back down from the challenge. He?ll get better and better as time goes on.?
