Four future Blue Devils compete at McDonald's All-American Games, Whitehead wins MVP

Tuesday night saw the future stars, including four from Duke, show off at the premier national high school basketball event.

The annual McDonald’s All-American Game, hosted in Chicago, took place Tuesday for the first time since 2019, with the previous two games canceled due to COVID-19. Four of Duke's top incoming freshmen—Dereck Lively II, Dariq Whitehead, Mark Mitchell and Ashlon Jackson—competed among the nation’s best, and certainly held their own. 

Whitehead, a 6-foot-6 forward out of Montverde Academy and the No. 4 overall recruit per 247Sports, won the game’s Most Valuable Player award as he dropped 13 points along with seven rebounds and seven assists in the East’s dominant 105-81 win against the West. The 17-year-old Newark, N.J., native connected on three of his seven 3-point attempts and shot 5-for-10 for the night.

Mitchell, the No. 10 overall recruit from Mission, Kan., led the West—and tied Villanova commit Cam Whitmore for the game high—with 19 points on 8-for-13 shooting, while Lively notched 10 points on a perfect 5-for-5 from the field with four boards and three blocks.

Since his September commitment, Lively has looked to be the centerpiece of the incoming Blue Devils class as the nation's top recruit. Tuesday night, he showed off his overwhelming length and athleticism for the East, with a picked-out pass into the post on one end leading to a two-handed alley-oop finish on the other. 

Jackson, the nation's No. 16 recruit according to ESPN, won the girls' 3-point competition and started for the West, scoring seven points with a made three. The China, Texas native had the highest mark across both 3-point competitions and also advanced to the semifinals of the event's skills competition.

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