We take you inside the lives of 5-star prospects Nico Mannion and Jalen Green before one of the biggest games of their careers—a blockbuster matchup of Pinnacle (AZ) High and San Joaquin Memorial (CA).
From breakfast to tipoff to postgame, we were there through all of it.
Early morning, Nico gave some insight on why he decided to re-classify:
“It wasn’t a hard decision [to re-classify]. The only hard decision was I’m not going to have another year of high school, since high school is so much fun. And once I started getting all the college offers, I thought I’m one of the best guards in the country regardless, so there’s no need for me to stay another year in high school.”
Green went to breakfast with his teammates and in his hotel before the game, he proclaimed, “I’m gonna go crazy.”
And once the game started, it was all business. Green and Mannion combined to score 38 points in the first quarter, with Green scoring his team’s first 18 points.
Pinnacle Prep emerged victorious, with Mannion putting up 33 points and 12 assists while Green dropped 34 points of his own. But the two friends were all smiles after the game.
“He came out on top, but I scored more than him though,” Green playfully said as the two embraced and posed for photos.
“He’s the GOAT,” Nico said, to which Green shot back: “Nah, he’s the GOAT.”
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