Report Card: Jahlil Okafor celebrates birthday with huge night
DATE: Monday, Dec. 15
A — Jahlil Okafor
On his 19th birthday, Jahlil Okafor threw himself a party at Elon's expense. The nation's most decorated freshman took advantage of an opponent that doesn't have a rotation player taller than 6-foot-8, scoring 25 points and grabbing 20 rebounds in Duke's 75-62 victory.
Okafor's 20-20 game was the first by a Duke player since Elton Brand did it in 1998. He scored via anything from drop steps in the post, to lobs at the rim to put-backs on the offensive glass, surpassing his previous season highs for points (24) and rebounds (12) set against Furman and Stanford, respectively.
The 7-footer's best game came on a night when the rest of the Blue Devils were at their worst. Duke played a sloppy game after an 11-day layoff for finals, committing 17 turnovers and hitting just 3 of 16 threes and 14 of 27 free throws to help keep Elon within 20 much of the night.
B+ — Memphis
Laying waste to lesser-talented North Carolina Central wouldn't have been a notable outcome for previous Memphis teams. This year's team is different though because it desperately needed a blowout victory like Monday's 81-47 rout to inject some fun back into a season that until now had been a struggle.
Memphis had opened the season with four losses in its first seven games, all by double figures and only one against a ranked opponent. Point guard play had been a season-long issue, as had long scoring droughts caused by the Tigers' guards inability to hit enough outside shots to make opponents pay for packing the paint defensively to try to take away Shaq Goodwin and Austin Nichols.
For at least one night, that was a non-issue for the Tigers. Goodwin, Nichols and Trahson Burrell combined for an efficient 40 points as Memphis shot 51 percent from the field for the game, enabling it to storm to a 24-point halftime lead and keep expanding it thereafter. North Carolina Central, which is favored to win the MEAC, shot 29.4 percent from the field for the game.
D- — North Florida
No member of the North Florida basketball team feels worse about Monday's loss to Tennessee Tech than center Romelo Banks.
Referees assessed a technical foul to the 6-foot-11 sophomore when he dunked during pregame warmups after being warned not to do it. That enabled Tennessee Tech's Torrance Rowe to sink two free throws prior to the opening tip-off, two points which ultimately proved valuable considering the Golden Eagles eventually defeated the Ospreys 82-80.
Of course nobody at North Florida would even consider blaming Banks for the loss because the Ospreys should have extended their win streak to six games anyway. They led by 13 points early in the second half but let that slip away in a hail of missed free throws, errant threes and defensive lapses.
NOTES:
• South Florida can't blame a nine-day layoff for its 68-63 home loss to Georgia Southern. Its opponent had not played a game in 13 days because of final exams. The Bulls have now lost three straight after a 5-1 start, previously falling to Alabama and Detroit.
• In 71-43 rout of hapless Grambling State, Gary Payton Jr. accomplished something no other Oregon State player besides his father ever has. The younger Payton posted a triple-double 26 years after his dad did it, tallying 10 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.
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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
