2014 McDonald's All-American Boys Game

The 2014 McDonald's All-American Boys Game was an All-star basketball game that was played on April 2, 2014 at the United Center in Chicago, home of the Chicago Bulls. It was the 37th annual McDonald's All-American Game for high school boys. The game's rosters featured the best and most highly recruited blue chip boys high school basketball players graduating in 2014. Chicago, which became the first city to host the game in back-to-back years in 2012,[2] will continue to host the game annually at least until 2015.[3] The rosters for the game were announced at 6:00 PM ET on January 29 on ESPNU.[4] At the time of the announcement 22 of the 24 players had committed to Division I basketball programs.[5] Duke and Kentucky led the field with four commits each.[6] One of the game's major storylines was that local big men Jahlil Okafor (McDonald's Morgan Wootten Player of the Year) and Cliff Alexander (Naismith Player of the Year) opposed each other.[7]

2014 McDonald's All-American Boys Game
Jahlil Okafor (black uniform) and Justin Jackson (red uniform) being honored as co-MVPs
East West
102 105
1st half2nd half Total
East 5151 102
West 5055 105
DateApril 2, 2014 9:30 PM ET
VenueUnited Center, Chicago, Illinois
MVPJahlil Okafor/Justin Jackson
RefereesKenneth Moreland, Bryce Cann, Mark Maslona
Attendance17,116[1]
Halftime showDJ R-Tistic
NetworkESPN
AnnouncersCarter Blackburn, Jalen Rose, Jay Williams, & Quint Kessenich
McDonald's All-American
← 2013
2015 →

Rosters edit

The 2014–15 Duke Blue Devils (Tyus Jones, Justise Winslow, Okafor, and Grayson Allen) and 2014–15 Kentucky Wildcats (Karl-Anthony Towns, Trey Lyles, Tyler Ulis, and Devin Booker) shared the lead among committed players at the time of the original roster announcement on January 29.[5] Three hometown players (Okafor, Alexander and Tyler Ulis) were selected for the game. Texas led the way with five natives (Myles Turner, Emmanuel Mudiay, Justin Jackson, Justise Winslow, and Kelly Oubre Jr.).[5][6] Rashad Vaughn committed to UNLV on February 11, but Turner remained uncommitted at the time of the game.[8] He committed to Texas 4 weeks after the game on April 30.[9]

8 days before the game, Okafor was recognized as the Morgan Wootten Player of the Year.[10] 2 days before the game, Grayson Allen won the slam dunk contest, James Blackmon, Jr. won the three-point contest and Tyus Jones won the skills competition.[11]

Justin Jackson won the Jack Daly Award for sportsmanship
Jahlil Okafor made this dunk to give the west a 103–102 lead with less than 40 seconds left in this 105–102 victory.

East Roster edit

# Name Height Weight Position Hometown High school College choice
11 Cliff Alexander 6–9 245 PF Chicago, Illinois Curie Metropolitan High School Kansas
35 Myles Turner 6–11 250 C Bedford, Texas Trinity High School (Euless, Texas) Texas
21 Tyus Jones 6–1 195 PG Burnsville, Minnesota Apple Valley High School (Minnesota) Duke
32 Karl-Anthony Towns 7–0 250 PF Metuchen, New Jersey St. Joseph High School (Metuchen, New Jersey) Kentucky
24 James Blackmon, Jr. 6–4 200 SG Chicago, Illinois Marion High School (Indiana) Indiana
3 D'Angelo Russell 6–4 193 SG Louisville, Kentucky Montverde Academy Ohio State
44 Justin Jackson 6–8 220 SF Spring, Texas Homeschool North Carolina
2 Melo Trimble 6–3 195 PG Upper Marlboro, Maryland Bishop O'Connell High School Maryland
15 Isaiah Whitehead 6–4 213 SG Brooklyn, New York Abraham Lincoln High School (Brooklyn) Seton Hall
1 Theo Pinson 6–5 212 SF Greensboro, North Carolina Wesleyan Christian Academy North Carolina
20 Justise Winslow 6–6 222 SF Houston, Texas St. John's School (Texas) Duke
5 Kevon Looney 6–9 250 PF Milwaukee, Wisconsin Alexander Hamilton High School (Milwaukee) UCLA

West Roster edit

# Name Height Weight Position Hometown High school College choice
22 Jahlil Okafor 6–11 275 C Fort Smith, Arkansas Whitney Young High School Duke
0 Emmanuel Mudiay 6–5 200 PG Kinshasa,Democratic Republic of the Congo Grace Preparatory Academy SMU
5 Stanley Johnson 6–6 245 SG Fullerton, California Mater Dei High School (Santa Ana, California) Arizona
41 Trey Lyles 6–9 234 SF Saskatoon, Canada Arsenal Technical High School Kentucky
12 Kelly Oubre Jr. 6–6 203 SF Fort Bend County, Texas Findlay College Prep Kansas
20 Rashad Vaughn 6–6 210 SF Minneapolis, Minnesota Findlay College Prep UNLV
11 Joel Berry II 6–0 195 PG Apopka, Florida Lake Highland Preparatory School North Carolina
24 Reid Travis 6–8 238 PF Minneapolis, Minnesota DeLaSalle High School (Minneapolis) Stanford
3 Tyler Ulis 5–10 150 PG Chicago Heights, Illinois Marian Catholic High School (Illinois) Kentucky
1 Grayson Allen 6–4 200 SG Jacksonville, Florida Providence School Duke
2 Devin Booker 6–6 205 SG Moss Point, Mississippi Moss Point High School Kentucky
40 Thomas Welsh 7–0 255 C Redondo Beach, California Loyola High School UCLA

Coaches edit

Frank Allocco (West Head Coach) Brian Sullivan (West Assistant Coach) Mark Noack (West Assistant Coach)

Lou Wilson (East Head Coach) Dale DeBerry (East Assistant Coach) Hank Lloyd (East Assistant Coach)

Results edit

The West defeated the East by a 105–102 score.[1] Okafor and Justin Jackson earned co-MVP of the game after posting 17 points and 7 rebounds and 23 points and 5 rebounds, for their respective West and East teams.[12][13]

April 2, 2014
08:30
East 102–105 West
Scoring by half: 51–50, 51–55
Pts: Justin Jackson 23
Rebs: Cliff Alexander/Kevon Looney 11
Asts: Tyus Jones 10
Pts: Jahlil Okafor 17
Rebs: Trey Lyles 8
Asts: Emmanuel Mudiay 6
United Center, Chicago, IL
Referees: Kenneth Moreland, Bryce Cann, Mark Maslona

Notes edit

  1. ^ a b "Official Basketball Box Score -- Game Totals -- Final Statistics" (PDF). McDonald's All-American. April 2, 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 13, 2014. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
  2. ^ "Chicago to Host McDonald's All-American Again in 2012". SLAM Magazine. October 24, 2012. Retrieved February 14, 2013.
  3. ^ Jordan, Jason (October 24, 2012). "McDonald's All American Games to stay in Chicago". USA Today. Archived from the original on April 12, 2013. Retrieved February 14, 2013.
  4. ^ "McDonald's Announces Player Nominations, Ticket Sales For 2014 McDonald's All American Games: Tickets available January 11; Final Team rosters unveiled January 29". MarketWatch. PR Newswire. January 7, 2014. Retrieved January 29, 2014.
  5. ^ a b c Borzello, Jeff (January 29, 2013). "Players announced for McDonald's All-American Game". CBS Sports. Retrieved January 29, 2013.
  6. ^ a b "Final Rosters Unveiled For The 2014 McDonald's All American Games: 48 Players Join the Ranks of Basketball's Elite with Selection to 2014 Team". PR Newswire. January 29, 2013. Retrieved January 29, 2013.
  7. ^ Finkelstein, Adam (January 30, 2013). "Jahlil Okafor tops McDonald's West". ESPN. Retrieved February 17, 2013.
  8. ^ Rankin, Reggie (February 11, 2014). "Rashad Vaughn commits to UNLV". ESPN. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
  9. ^ Biancardi, Paul (April 30, 2014). "Myles Turner chooses Texas". ESPN. Retrieved April 30, 2014.
  10. ^ Helfgot, Mike (March 25, 2014). "Young's Okafor named national player of year". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 25, 2014.
  11. ^ Helfgot, Mike (March 31, 2014). "Alexander on Kansas: 'I wouldn't mind staying two years'". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
  12. ^ Johnson, Raphielle (April 3, 2014). "Jahlil Okafor, West team outlast East in McDonald's All-America Game". NBC Sports. Retrieved April 3, 2014.
  13. ^ "Co-MVP Jahlil Okafor leads West". ESPN. Associated Press. April 3, 2014. Retrieved April 3, 2014.

External links edit