Kevin Savage comes up big in clutch for Game Elite; more Purdue recruiting notes from Friday

ROCK HILL, S.C. — Thursday’s frustrating loss, down-to-the-final-seconds loss to New World knocked Kevin Savage and his Game Elite team out of championship contention here at the adidas 3SSB Palmetto Road championship event. Nevertheless, games run through Sunday, with college coaches looking on. With championship stakes off the table and his coaches’ stated goal being to help players earn scholarships the rest of the weekend, Purdue’s 2027 point guard commitment showed how important winning is to him. Game Elite led Team Loaded by just two points — the lead was seven at half — with only 5:13 left to play. From that point on, as open shots for teammates stopped falling, Savage buried five threes on as many attempts, scoring 17 points in 313 seconds to turn that flimsy two-point cushion into a 20-point rout. He finished with 32 points on 8-of-10 three-point shooting, with four rebounds, two assists, a steal and just one turnover. Numerous assists went by the wayside as the rest of the roster shot just 9-of-32. Thus Savage taking matters into his own hands. All his late threes came off the dribble, shots he created. “The last five minutes, I know that’s winning time,” Savage said afterward. “Me being the leader of the team, I’ve got to step up to the plate and just be the option for my team to win the game, even if that’s scoring the ball, passing the ball, getting stops on defense. I just do whatever it takes to win.” There’s an emotional undercurrent to Savage as a point guard. Losing clearly doesn’t sit well, nor do mouthy opponents. At one point in Thursday’s eventual loss, an opposing player made a three in the vicinity of Savage, chirped, then watched him sink a series of jumpers. “A little bit,” Savage said. “When I get mad, it’s a different mentality that comes into my mind. Now I’ve just got that mentality of just killing everything in front of me.” That’s exactly what occurred in these final five minutes Friday. PURDUE COMMITMENT KEVIN SAVAGE MORE FROM FRIDAY IN ROCK HILL Assistant coaches Brandon Brantley and Kenneth Lowe remained at adidas, watching Savage, 2028 priority Cole Kelly (more), 2027 target Ahmed Nur (more) and a slew of underclassmen. Matt Painter remained in Augusta Friday, but will presumably make the trip up I-77 for Saturday’s games. Nur had his most productive game of the weekend to date this afternoon, scoring 18 points in a loss. Purdue, Michigan, Michigan State, IU, Minnesota, Texas, USC, Washington and many others have been watching him throughout the first two days of the weekend; Syracuse head coach Gerry McNamara keeping particularly close. CLASS OF 2029 POSSIBILITIES Purdue has already been active in watching and recruiting — insofar as contact rules allow — Indiana Elite 2029 players Drew Cabana, Will Tonagel and Karson Stoudemire, as well as Midwest Basketball Club’s Micah Mohler, another in-state player. But a few other possibilities might be emerging in Rock Hill. Noah Woods of South Dakota and D1 Minnesota’s 15s team has modest connections to East Chicago and even Purdue; the 6-foot-9ish sophomore-to-be looks like a real player, with height and length, athleticism and a gliding sort of nature, even as young and limbsy as he is. Nsilo Abraham is a battering ram of a big man with excellent feet, passing ability and low-post savvy. He’s wider and girthier than he is tall, but Purdue’s went that direction often with great success over the years. Purdue assistants watched both players Friday. Regarding Abraham, Brantley has actively recruited D.C. for years now.