Knights In The Nba: Ace Bailey Heats Up

Several former Rutgers basketball players have made their mark on the NBA this season. Dylan Harper has looked good coming off the bench for the San Antonio Spurs, while his brother, Ron Harper Jr, has contributed solid minutes to the Celtics when he was called up from the G-League. After taking some time to adjust to the NBA in the first half of the season, Dylan’s former teammate and good friend Ace Bailey is starting to prove why he was drafted so high.

Over the past few games, Bailey has scored 95 points for the Utah Jazz. He recorded 33 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists in the team’s 128-96 win over the Milwaukee Bucks. He followed that up with a 25-point game in a losing effort to the Philadelphia 76ers before scoring 37 points in a losing effort to the Toronto Raptors. He is the fifth-youngest NBA player to score 25 points per game in three straight games. The four ahead of him are LeBron James, Cooper Flagg, Carmelo Anthony, and Devin Booker.

While it is stunning how well he has done in this recent set of games, this reflects an overall trend that shows him starting to adjust to the league overall. In the 10 games the Jazz have played since the start of March, Bailey has scored at least 20 points in five of them and has had 15 or more points in all but three. His average of 21.2 points this month is his highest monthly average since joining the league. His overall shooting percentage has gone up drastically as well, as he is hitting 46.6 percent of his shots from the floor and 43.8 percent of his shots from three.

Bailey will look to continue his streak of dominance as the Jazz are set to play a very vulnerable Washington Wizards team next on their schedule.

In addition to Bailey, Dylan Harper has had a few solid outings in his last few games, recording 24 points against the Indiana Pacers and 21 points against the Miami Heat. He is still being used largely in a reserve role, recording just over 20 minutes per game in most of his appearances, while Bailey, on the other hand, has been playing around 30 minutes on average. This is largely due to the teams that each of them is on, rather than their overall skill.

The hope is that Bailey will finish the season strong and give the Jazz faithful a reason to be excited for the future while both Harper brothers continue to contribute meaningful minutes on a playoff contender.