Jarace Walker is walking proof that a player can be an incredible asset to a team even if he cannot shoot. Or in Walker’s case, he is running, jumping, passing, shotblocking, screen-setting proof that an all-around game is the most valuable skillset in basketball. The seventh-ranked player in the class of 2022, he put on a virtuosic display of talent against Hamilton Heights in their 64-46 rout of the local school.
In the third quarter alone, he blocked a shot by exploding into the air and hacking the ball back at the shooter.
On the very next possession, he got the ball at the top of the key, did an around-the-back motion from right to left, and pirouetted as he rifled a pass to the wing for an open shot. To end the quarter, Walker tried to power through contact a layup. When that shot went off the rim, he just used his supreme athleticism to dunk his own miss in a crowded paint. And yeah, for good measure he even made a three from the corner too.
“I feel like some of it is just natural instincts that I have, so I’m just blessed to have that,” Walker said. “I feel like I’m positionless for real, because I can play and guard one through five.”
“He’s just a monster,” IMG coach Sean McAloon said. “He can play all five positions, and when he’s really, really aggressive he’s really good. I think he can do a lot of things.”
IMG’s Walker might have the build of a power-forward, but he displayed some point-guard skills in the first quarter. He got things going for the Ascenders with a strong take after going through a few sets, diving into the paint from the perimeter. The next IMG basket came only a few moments later, when the athletic Eric Dailey Jr. rumbled to the paint, missed the layup but stayed with it, and hit another for two more.
Hamilton Heights stayed with the visitors for a quarter though, with guard Yerald Mieses pouring in seven points in the frame and energizing the crowd. With the game hosted at McCallie’s gym, the crowd support was decidedly in favor of the Hamilton Heights players. He nailed a triple on the wing to give Hamilton Heights life, although Moussa Diabate tried to take their soul on the very next play. He had the ball baseline and got a step on Felix Okpara and proceeded to attempt a reverse poster a la JaVale McGee. He missed the dunk, but it animated the small crowd of fans and scouts.
Okpara got some amount of revenge back when he took the lob from Camden Andrews and put down a lob for another Hamilton Heights basket. After Jarace Walker lasered in a backdoor pass to Dailey Jr. for a layup, Andrews took and buried a cold-blooded three from way downtown. Mieses finished the quarter by hitting a floater on a drive, and then dribbled through about half of the IMG defense before putting in a righty layup as time expired.
“I feel like it’s our mindset,” Walker said about the lackluster first quarter. “We have to come in locked in and not wait for the score to get close or for the coach to talk to us for us to lock in. ”
The first quarter ended with the Hamilton Heights Eagles still in the game, and the second quarter ended with their prospects of victory severely diminished. After nearly two minutes without a basket by either team, Dailey Jr. rifled a pass to sophomore Gus Yalden for two. After a few more minutes marred by turnovers and free throws, Dailey Jr. again imposed is will on the game.
After Hamilton Heights had another fruitless possession, they saw Dailey Jr. far ahead of the field and tried to get him the hit-ahead pass. Mieses intentionally fouled him and Dailey Jr.’s one-handed detonation went uncounted. After Jaden Bradley nailed the two technical free throws, Dailey Jr. finally made a basket that counted when he threw in a triple from the right corner.
“I like LeBron,” Dailey Jr. said about the player he tries to model his game after. “His mental approach to the game is a lot different from previous years. And I want to get my teammates involved and I’m working on my defense. So those are my strengths.”
From the second quarter until the end of the game, IMG played defense like one would expect the top school in the country to. Every Eagle pass to Okpara was heavily contested, and each Andrews, Cole Farrell, and Mieses shot was rushed by IMG’s fantastic athletes. For as much of a pest as Diabate was on the offensive end (he seemed to force a foul every time he touched the ball), his real value came on the defensive end.
He lurked on the baselines and in the middle, ready to pounce on any Hamilton Heights shot within ten feet of the rim. Okpara would think he had an easy bucket, and then Diabate would teleport to the rim from another dimension and block the shot. Even on non-blocked layups, the Eagles still had to throw up moonballs in order to avoid having them volleyball-spiked back to planet Earth. Bretner Mutombo and Felix Okpara hypothetically had the size to deal with him, but Diabate was on another planet in terms of fluid athleticism and coordination.
“I think Moussa fouled out their entire front line, so from start to finish he was able to impose himself,” coach McAloon said.
Mieses, against all odds, got two high-arching layups to go over Diabate, and one of them probably came down with some moisture on the ball because of how high the ball went. But Diabate got to most of them, including one of the most incredible blocks you will ever see. A Hamilton Heights player was in open space and thought he had an uncontested dunk.
He was wrong, because the Michigan commit tracked him the entire way and used his seven-foot wingspan to block the dunk from behind. The referees actually called it a jump ball because of how cleanly the defender made contact with it. A few moments later, Dailey Jr. punctuated the quarter with a filthy, two-handed, rim-hanging alley-oop dunk from Jett Howard.
“We were able to get a ton of stops, and offensively we were able to get some movement and get to the line for some foul shots,” coach McAloon said. “The ball movement was good.”
The fourth quarter was a mere formality, as IMG continued to hammer away at a frustrated Hamilton Heights. Even though Hamilton Heights basically kept pace scoring-wise with IMG in every quarter but the second, the entire second-half had the feel of garbage time. The ragged game ended with a strong Noah Batchelor alley-oop jam from Jett Howard, and a fullcourt pass to Yalden for a two-hander before the clock ran out. IMG improved their record to 17-2, and showed Chattanooga why they could be considered the best team in the country.
“This reason we came back to Chattanooga,” coach McAloon said, looking around at the fans and people in the gym. “The people were so awesome the last time we came, so when they asked me to come back, I said sure.”
HAMILTON HEIGHTS - 14 04 14 14 - 46
IMG ACADEMY - 18 15 14 17 - 64
Hamilton Heights (46): Felix Okpara 08, Camden Andrews 03, Cole Farrell 05, Yerald Mineses 15,, Randy Brady 07, JaMichael Stillwell 08.
IMG Academy (64): Moussa Diabate 07, Jaden Bradley 10, Tamar Bates 07, Eric Dailey Jr 15, Noah Batchelor 02, Jett Howard 09, Gus Yalden 06, Jarace Walker 08.
3-FIELD GOALS: Hamilton Heights 3 (Camden Andrews, Mieses, Felix Okpala); IMG Academy 3 (Dailey Jr. 2, Walker)
Coaches: Stephen Cook (HH), Sean McAloon (IMG)
KNOX CATHOLIC 8 15 19 17 - 59
MCCALLIE 13 12 9 16 - 50
KNOX CATHOLIC (59); Blue Cain 18, Sompayrac 0, Warren 5, Patterson 0, Brian Edwards 16, Doerger 0, Handje Tamba 20.
MCCALLIE (50) - Turner 6, Eric Rivers 13, Kwosigroch 0, Rankin 7, Claridy 6, Elliott 3, T. Hamilton 3, David Craig 12.
3-FIELD GOALS: - Knox 3 (Cain 2, Edwards 1); McCallie 4 (Rivers 1, Rankin 1, Claridy 1, T. Hamilton 1.)
You can contact the author at Joseph.a.dycus@gmail.com