DES MOINES – This weekend, Georges Niang will be among the nation’s 20 best college basketball players at the Nike Basketball Academy in Santa Monica, Calif. On Wednesday night during YMCA Capital City League action, he put up numbers to back up that honor.
Niang scored 58 points on 22-of-33 shooting, including 10-17 from three and grabbed nine rebounds in Adio’s blowout win over Capital Orthopedic, who was playing without Matt Thomas and Nick Noskowiak. The competition might not be the same level as Niang will face this weekend, but 58 points is still impressive.
“This is going to be a super cool opportunity,” Niang said before his teams 147-97 win. “Whenever you can go train with professionals and some of the best players in college basketball I think it’s a great learning experience.”
It can be tough to really improve that much in a three-day long camp. However, it is the perfect for Niang place to learn new things to help him improve once he returns to Ames.
“I definitely want to come in with open eyes and open ears,” Niang said. “See what everybody is doing to become better.”
Niang won’t have any worries when he heads West since he has the experience of attending the Nike Big Man Skills Academy and the LeBron James Skills Academy last summer.
“I probably have a pretty settled mindset. I’m not too nervous or anything like that,” Niang said. “You just got to go in and play your game. Don’t do stuff that you’re not normally used to doing.”
Quick hits
*** I was going to write about Hallice Cooke until Georges Niang decided to catch fire and go off for 58 points. I just had a couple quotes that I wanted to pass along.
On where he in his return from hip surgery
“It’s more mental than physical right now. Just not getting mad when I miss a shot. Right now I’m just using Cap City to just work on my confidence, get my rhythm back and get my flow back, my feel of playing to playing. It’s been fun and just being out on the court again. You know, I was out for a long time, almost a year since I’ve played competitive basketball. I’m just using this as an opportunity to get better, work on my game and get my confidence back.”
On Deonte Burton, Cooke’s roommate, dunking
“He’s like, ‘Bro, you see this one? You see this one?’ All the time. He’s like, ‘This my favorite one right here.’ We hop out the car and he’ll come out here and just dunk. It’s amazing to see. He’s a very talented and gifted player. I think very highly of him.”
CCL night four recaps
Hannah Homes 117, Renaissance Granite & Quartz 111
*** Deonte Burton scored 35 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Hallice Cooke scored 35 points, grabbed eight boards and dished five assists to lead Hannah Homes to the win. Cooke also knocked down seven 3-pointers.
Daniel Edozie scored 16 points and grabbed 15 rebounds for Renaissance, who was without Abdel Nader. Drake’s Reed Timmer led the team with 46 points.
Phoenix Renewable Resources 122, YMCA 110
*** Former Cyclone Kourtlin Jackson put up a double-double with 30 points and 10 rebounds and Monte Morris scored 29 points, grabbed 11 boards and dished four assists in the win.
YMCA played without Nick Babb and Jameel McKay. Drake’s Billy Wampler led them with 39 points.
Adio Chiropractic 147, Capital Orthopedic 97
*** Jordan Ashton scored 24 points on 10-11 shooting, including 2-of-3 from behind the arc to go along with Niang’s 58 points in the win.
Nick Noskowiak sat out the game due to a concussion and Matt Thomas also did not play. Drake’s Ore Argundade led the team with 39 points.
