Gopher Team Camp: Oturu vs Jarvis vs Hurt
This Saturday at Gopher Team Camp the best went at the best when Jarvis Thomas, Daniel Oturu, and Matthew Hurt went at each other in round robin format.
Jarvis Thomas stepping to the line vs CDH. @harvisthomas had an 18/11 double-double, @oturu65 had 29/9. Excellent battle pic.twitter.com/sB707y3KTG
— Ryan James (@RyanJamesMN) June 25, 2017
Jarvis Thomas vs Daniel Oturu. Oturu’s Cretin-Derham Hall Raiders got the better of the Orono Spartans and Jarvis Thomas by a score of 66-59. Oturu and Thomas, who are Howard Pulley teammates, both had excellent games but it was top 40 recruit Oturu who had a huge day.
Oturu finished with 29 points making 11 of 14 shots and 7 of 8 foul shots with nine rebounds. Daniel scored a dozen of those points on high energy putbacks dunking or tapping back misses with either an unchecked finish at the basket or using his length and physical battle to get to the ball before the Orono players. These were effort plays plus Oturu used his length and quick bounce to get to the missed shots right off the rim to finish off possessions.
The effort players weren’t limited to putbacks though. Oturu had a transition slam as well as a lob finish cutting behind the defense scoring against Jarvis who made contact with Oturu but the length was too great to stop Daniel. The Gopher commit’s most skilled finishes were a face-up 16-footer swished with a bit of fall when releasing as well as a catch and completion off the window rolling at the basket after a ball screen.
Jarvis Thomas was able to counter many of the Oturu baskets scoring 18 points with 11 rebounds shooting 7 of 13 from the floor and making half of his six foul shots. GI has been in attendance to see Thomas play the last three straight weekends and there are many things we have seen consistently game to game.
First off Thomas has surely grown again. He’s all of 6-foot-7 at the least and it’s fair to list him at 6-foot-8. Thomas is using that size with highly energetic plays on both ends of the court as his effort has become one of the most consistent parts of his game. Thomas also seems to be making one three-pointer a contest (he made a three in transition versus CDH) and he’s using his spin move consistently with good results (also did that vs CDH).
Thomas also had a beautiful putback over the top of Otruru and Thomas used his considerable upper body strength for three different And1 completions finishing through contact.
Having seen seven games of Thomas the last three weekends there are so many things he is doing more consistently as an upperclassmen and it’s great to see as his potential is very high.
Two of the nation's best: Daniel Oturu (@oturu65) vs Matthew Hurt (@HurtMatthew) from Gopher Team Camp pic.twitter.com/26t867FUXA
— Ryan James (@RyanJamesMN) June 25, 2017
Daniel Oturu vs Matthew Hurt. The Raiders got the better of the JM Rockets 76-60 as John Marshall has a new coach and lot of new players who are working on a new system of play. Hurt was his normal five star self but with this being an opportunity for his team to begin working on the early stages of learning the system Hurt definitely sacrificed some scoring chances for the longer term good of his team learning how to play in a new way with new faces.
Had these been high school games during the winter there are many shots that Hurt would have taken that in this setting of summer work he sacrificed to let the ball continue to move. To me this was a sign of maturity and sacrifice for the better of his team because this was a setting where the eyes of local peers were on the top talent.
Hurt scored on 8 of 15 field goals for 18 points against Oturu. The baskets that stood out against Daniel were the power move finish over Hurt’s left shoulder shifting Oturu and then completing the play as well as the sharp back door cut to the rim catching and completing before Daniel could react.
Hurt also used a ball fake to shift Oturu which was followed by an attack with an explosive two hand finish. Matthew also showed his soft touch and range on two threes plus he grabbed seven rebounds. Hurt passed the ball beautifully all game working on the perimeter. He recorded five assists including a couple zipping looks to cutters that were simply special. When his teammates mature and become more comfortable that would have been an eight or nine assist game instead of a five assist game.
Daniel made 12 of 17 shots for 26 points with seven boards. Oturu showed his ability to score in many different ways against Rochester JM starting with the physical one-dribble attack finish after a sudden rip-through to beat the shifting defender. Oturu went to the reverse lay-up twice after facing-up using a dribble against Hurt (once on the baseline and once going through the lane to the other side of the rim).
Oturu used a sudden right shoulder spin move to get to the rim for a dunk, he sunk a pair of 15 to 17 foot fall-a-way jumpers out of a post-up (over Matthew’s extreme reach that was well positioned), Oturu scored on three putbacks, and completed a highlight reel lob dunk. The Gopher commit finished his 26-point day with a steal into an open floor score.
And Matthew Hurt did that getting 18/9, 15/13, numbers wise against some of the best frontcourt players in the state. Such a rare talent
— Ryan James (@RyanJamesMN) June 25, 2017
Matthew Hurt vs Jarvis Thomas. Orono is a favorite to win the Class AAA title and they bring the majority of their production back (they nearly beat DeLaSalle last year and have a real chance to do that this coming winter). JM has two guys back from last year’s rotation and a new coach. I thought the Rockets put together a nice team effort to play one of Minnesota’s better teams but the Spartans were able to take that effort and still win 59-52.
Thomas led the way with a 9 of 12 shooting day scoring 21 points with six rebounds. Many of his scores were effort plays at the rim completing possessions but of course there were some scoring plays that stood out more than others:
- Thomas collected two offensive boards on an early possession and eventually gave his team a high rising basket but it was the effort to keep the possession going early in the game that stood out setting a tone.
- Loved how Thomas used his pivot to get around Hurt to score in a balanced way. Jarvis took his time to let the space develop and then struck at the rim.
- Thomas faced up from about 19 feet and used his quick first step to get baseline and throw down with one hand in a physical way that that Sports Pavilion rim has likely rarely seen.
- Handled up the floor after a defensive board, pushed the ball quickly, saw space he could burst into, attacked it, finished with a finger roll off the glass. A coast to coast push and completion.
Matthew Hurt made half of his dozen shots including a putback, a three pointer, and a slashing rim attack exploding after a corner turn to touch in a shot at the rim using length before even Thomas could make a play on the ball. It was six makes and all of them were a different type of finish.
In this game Hurt seemed focused on completely dominating the glass. Both he and Jarvis sat their fair share on the bench as the coaches played their second units a lot in this third game of the day to gain experience. Because of that, the 14 rebounds that Matthew physically collected was even more impressive.
Hurt also totaled four assists (could have been seven or eight but some easy shots were missed by teammates) and blocked three shots. Another big part of Matthew’s game is how he can use his length defensively to contest shots, block shots, and get deflections.