There was a standing-room-only crowd at P.A.R.K. on Friday night as the Real Deal in the Rock basketball tournament got under way with dozens of games, but there was one team, and one player in particular, who everybody came to see.
Neither the Arkansas Wings Elite nor Malik Monk would disappoint.
Monk, the All-Arkansas Preps sophomore of the year while playing at Bentonville this past season, scored 20 points to lead the Arkansas Wings Elite to an 83-51 victory over Rashard Lewis 9 Elite of Houston.
The Wings Elite are scheduled to play next in pool play at 11:30 this morning against the Memphis Magic.
ESPN rates Monk, 6-4, 173, as the nation’s No. 7 prospect in the 2016 class. He has scholarship offers from Arkansas, Baylor, Memphis, Florida, LSU, Connecticut, Kansas and Indiana.
Monk said the Wings tightened their game in all facets as they outscored Rashard Lewis 9 Elite 52-25 in the second half.
“What we really did was get more pressure on the ball and helped out defensively and shared the ball,” Monk said.
Monk scored 10 points in each half, and on a night when his outside shot wasn’t falling, he relied on his athleticism to score on drives to the basket.
“You have to start inside and get the easier shots first and then the outside shots will come to you,” Monk said. “My teammates set me up well.”
Arkansas Razorbacks Coach Mike Anderson and his staff are aggressively recruiting Monk, who attended six Razorbacks games this season.
“They really played well at the end,” Monk said of the Razorbacks. “It’s tough to see them lose in the NIT, but it was [a] nice season.”
Monk, who might end up as one of the most highly recruited players to ever come out of Arkansas, averaged 22.7 points, 4.6 rebounds a game and had 41 steals this past season.
Malik’s brother Marcus, Arkansas’s all-time leader in touchdown receptions (27), playing for the Razorbacks from 2004 to 2007, was a graduate assistant for the Hogs basketball team this season while pursuing a master’s degree.
Malik Monk said Marcus, who also played basketball for the Razorbacks, helps manage what is already an intense recruiting process.
“Colleges, he handles that very well,” Malik Monk said. “He doesn’t really let me know until they say they want to offer me.”
The younger Monk is quick to say he’s keeping an open mind in recruiting and won’t be making a decision anytime soon.
“I’m going to wait until the very end and make the right decision and have my brother help me out with it,” Monk said.
Sports, Pages 21 on 04/19/2014