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Rutgers basketball: Ace Bailey’s ‘wow’ dunk and 5 more workout takeaways

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Rutgers basketball: Ace Bailey’s ‘wow’ dunk and 5 more workout takeaways

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PISCATAWAY – There was a “wow” moment at Rutgers basketball’s summer workout session Thursday.  

During a 5-on-5 full-court drill, guard Jeremiah Williams drove the right side of the lane and bounced a pass to freshman forward Ace Bailey, who was running the baseline toward the rim. As 6-foot-11 center Emmanuel Ogbole tried to cut him off, Bailey launched skyward, sailing under the hoop and throwing down a one-handed reverse dunk in one jaw-dropping motion.

“When I saw him take off I’m like, ‘Oh crap, he’s stuck in mid-air,’ then he reverse-flushed it,” postgrad forward Zach Martini said. “I forget, he’s a freak.”

That’s why Bailey, who looks every bit of his 6-foot-10 listing, is a potential No. 1 pick in next June’s NBA Draft.

“He does stuff that you can’t teach, that I’ve never seen people do,” Williams said. “When he does stuff like that it brings a little juice, a little excitement. He has a talent, a gift not many people have.”

Bailey threw down several dunks during the one-hour workout, but doing it on the fly between two defenders like that? It’s not something witnessed around here in years past.

“That’s not normal,” fellow freshman Lathan Sommerville said.

“Someone said he was tired, then he goes and does that,” Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell said. “He does something every day that makes you say, ‘wow.’ He makes it look easy, and it’s not.”

Bailey’s fellow fab freshman and McDonald’s All-American Dylan Harper watched the workout from the sideline and appears to be walking normally after undergoing an elective knee procedure that will keep him out 4-6 weeks during summer session.

5 OBSERVATIONS

Here are five observations from the workout:

1. Jordan Derkack played well on defense

Multiple times, the Colonia High School grad and transfer guard from Merrimack stripped driving teammates clean. He held his own against fellow transfer Tyson Acuff in the full-court one-on-one drill. And he stymied Bailey as the phenom attacked the hoop with a head of steam, knocking the ball loose.

“He’s got great hands,” Pikiell said. “And he’s real physical.”

2. Acuff made his “pressure” free throw

Typically Pikiell puts multiple players in the “pressure” spot at the line, where a miss sends everyone on wind sprints. But only Acuff got the call this time.

“It’s nice when you’ve got an 82 percent foul shooter,” Pikiell said.

3. Interesting pairings

The full-court 1-on-1 drill matched up Martini vs. Ogbole, Derkack vs. Acuff, Bailey vs. PJ Hayes, Williams vs. Jamichael Davis, Sommerville vs. Dylan Grant, and Bryce Dortch vs. walk-on Nate Freisthler.

Martini and Ogbole more or less played each other to a standstill.

“Big, strong, physical – I love playing against guys like that, big challenge for me,” Martini said. “He’s a tall guy, and I’ve got to work on getting my shot off.”

Unsolicited, Pikiell said Ogbole’s “been fantastic. Couldn’t be more proud of him. His vertical is more than Cliff’s (Omoruyi’s).”

In five-on-five, Pikiell had Williams, Acuff, Bailey, Martini and Sommerville grouped together on this day. Martini scored both in the paint and from beyond the arc. He has the green light to play positionless. Pikiell, he said, told him to “bring some of that over here,” from Princeton.

4. The freshmen are “sore”

Lots of talk about the freshmen having their eyes opened by Rutgers’ strength and conditioning regimen.

“The freshmen are exhausted,” Pikiell said.

“With the freshmen coming in and being a little sore, we’re trying to do things to make it (the transition) as smooth as possible,” Williams said.

“We’re getting used to the weight room, for sure,” Sommerville said. “We’re a little bit sore, but we feel that we’re getting better and stronger.”

Of Sommerville, who projects to have a significant role, Pikiell said, “Lathan’s going to be good – we’ve got to get him in shape.”

5. Look who’s talking

Among the players, Williams and Martini did the most talking – and a lot of it was amongst themselves. A bond is forming between the likely captains.

“This is a new team, Jeremiah and I have played a lot of games, we’ve been around the block, we know it’s hard, so we’re trying to relay that,” Martini said.

Williams said he and the two other holdovers from last season, Ogbole and Davis, never went home after the spring semester ended. They stuck around to hit the weight room together and gear up for the summer session as a trio.

The other talker during practice? Bailey. Multiple times he was seen reinforcing coaches’ points to his fellow freshmen.

So far, Martini said, he likes the vibe at the practice facility.

“I’m here at 10 a.m., there’s 10 people here,” he said. “I’m here at 9 p.m., there’s 10 people here.”

Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. He is an Associated Press Top 25 voter. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.

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