Current Jayhawks judge dunk contest at Lawrence AAU event

By Matt Tait     Jul 20, 2019

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Juniors Marcus Garrett and Silvio De Sousa, along with freshman Christian Braun and sophomore Ochai Agbaji judged the slam dunk contest at the Hardwood Classic AAU event in Lawrence on Friday night.

Four current Jayhawks, a couple of whom have experience playing in the Hardwood Classic AAU event and others like it, served as celebrity judges for the event’s slam dunk contest on Friday night.

Juniors Marcus Garrett and Silvio De Sousa, sophomore Ochai Agbaji and freshman Christian Braun, took their spots at the judges’ table on Friday night to watch a series of competitors break out their best and biggest dunks to impress both the judges and the crowd, who packed Court 3 after another full day of AAU action at Sports Pavilion Lawrence.

Zack Spann, of the Minnesota Magic, wound up winning the dunk contest, throwing down a wicked, reverse jam that he pulled up from all the way between his legs while flying through the air to hold off all other competitors.

“I’ve competed in this event my whole life and just being on the other side of it is really cool,” said Braun, a freshman from nearby Blue Valley Northwest High. “I’ve been able to watch a lot of really good players in the 3-point and dunk contests and it’s always a lot of fun.”

As recent as two years ago, former Oklahoma standout Trae Young, who just completed his rookie season in the NBA with the Atlanta Hawks, was the 3-point shootout winner.

On Friday, another MOKAN player, Spencer Bain, followed in Young’s footsteps to win the 2019 3-point contest.

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.