In the world of college basketball, hitting a game-winning shot is the stuff dreams are made of. Players spend countless hours in the gym, visualizing that big moment when the game is on the line and the ball is in their hands. This past weekend, that dream came true not once, but twice for the Blakes family – and in the span of just 24 hours.
On Saturday, Jaylen Blakes, a senior guard for the Stanford Cardinal men’s team, found himself with the ball and the game tied in the waning seconds of a critical ACC matchup against North Carolina. Blakes didn’t hesitate, driving to his right and pulling up for a mid-range jumper that found nothing but net as the buzzer sounded. The clutch bucket gave him a game-high 20 points and secured a massive road win for Stanford.
Blakes. Onions.
Stanford Men’s Basketball Twitter account
Fast forward to Sunday, some 2,500 miles away in Nashville, where Jaylen’s younger sister Mikayla Blakes and the Vanderbilt Commodores women’s squad were locked in a tight battle with in-state rival Tennessee. Trailing by one with just seconds to go, Vanderbilt had one final chance for the win. After a teammate’s layup attempt missed, Mikayla crashed the glass, grabbed the offensive rebound and quickly put it back up and in to give the Commodores the lead with a mere 0.4 ticks left on the clock.
A proud father’s perfect weekend
The Blakes siblings’ back-to-back heroics didn’t just send shockwaves through the college basketball world – it absolutely made the weekend of their biggest fan: their father. His reaction said it all:
The face of a proud dad 🥹 Mikayla Blakes and brother Jaylen Blakes both hit game winning shots within 24 hours of one another.
Vanderbilt WBB Twitter account
For a basketball family like the Blakes, this was undoubtedly a moment they had all visualized countless times. Both Jaylen and Mikayla were highly touted recruits coming out of high school, with Jaylen ranked as high as No. 62 nationally in the class of 2021 and Mikayla considered a top-50 prospect in the class of 2023. Their father played college ball himself before going on to a successful coaching career.
Now, the Blakes siblings are adding to the family legacy and making their own marks at the highest level of NCAA hoops. And if this weekend is any indication, they have a flair for the dramatic that any hoops parent would be over the moon about.
The Encore
So what’s next for the Blakes bunch after a weekend they’ll never forget? Well, as the old saying goes, shooters shoot. Jaylen and Stanford have a quick turnaround as they travel to take on Miami this Wednesday. Meanwhile, Mikayla and Vanderbilt return home to Nashville on Thursday to host Arkansas.
Safe to say, if either of those games come down to the wire, everyone in the building will know exactly who is getting the ball. Jaylen and Mikayla Blakes have already shown they can deliver in the clutch – the only question is, can they possibly top the heroics of this instant classic of a basketball weekend? One thing is for sure: their dad certainly wouldn’t mind seeing them try.
