ForumsAlong with future Vol Trae Golden, Tennessee signee Jordan McRae participated in the Derby Classic in Louisville, Kentucky over the weekend.
Typically, all-star games are a platform for individuals to showcase their skills. The outcome is mostly an afterthought.
That is, unless you are Jordan McRae.
On Saturday, McRae’s team was losing by a considerable margin for most of the contest. And he was visibly bothered by it.
“I don’t like losing. I don’t,” he told VolNation.com after the game. “I don’t accept losing.”
“You want to have fun the first half, but the second half is all business.”
After coming off the bench with 5:25 remaining in the first quarter, McRae made an immediate impact.
He threw down a tomahawk jam on the fast break, made a layup on a nice pass from Moses Abraham, was the recipient of an alley-oop, and grabbed four rebounds – all before the first quarter ended.
McRae later scored on a floater in the lane and had another impressive dunk on a fast break. He finally found his long-range shot at the end of the third quarter, knocking down a 3-pointer just before time ran out.
The talented guard from Hinesville, GA finished the night with 14 points and six rebounds in just 22 minutes of action.
“I was trying to go out there and play hard and put on a good performance so everybody from Tennessee would know they are getting a real good player next year,” McRae said.
At 6-foot-5, 175 pounds, McRae describes himself as an athletic player who prefers to play an up-tempo style.
“I’m a athletic player. I’m going to play how they play (at Tennessee), running up and down.”
The previous night, McRae competed in the 3-point Shootout and, his personal favorite, the Slam Dunk Competition.
“I was trying to have fun, you know,” McRae said. “This is going to be my last time playing with a lot of these guys so I was just going out there trying to have fun. Not to really win, but just have fun.”
McRae, who received a perfect 30 from the judges on his second dunk , said he doesn’t plan his dunks ahead of time.
“It’s the spur of the moment always because you don’t know who in front of you is gonna do the dunk you wanted to do. So you just kind of go with the flow.”
Ranked No. 38 in the ESPNU 100 for 2010, McRae said his plans for the summer include hitting the weights and continuing to work on his shot.
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