Kansas signee Alexander earns MVP honors at all-star game

Kansas University basketball recruiting.

Kansas University basketball signee Cliff Alexander earned most valuable player honors for the West team during Friday night’s Jordan Brand Classic at Barclays Center in New York City.

Alexander, a 6-8 forward out of Chicago’s Curie High, scored 23 points, grabbed eight rebounds and blocked five shots in the West’s 158-147 loss to the East.

Alexander’s high school rival, Jahlil Okafor of Chicago Whitney Young High, scored 29 points with nine rebounds in earning MVP honors for the winning East team.

KU signee Kelly Oubre scored 24 points and grabbed five rebounds, while Indiana signee James Blackmon had 23 and Duke’s Tyus Jones 12 assists and 10 points for the East.

Also for the West, Arizona’s Stanley Johnson had 24 points and SMU’s Emmanuel Mudiay 19.

Myles Turner, 6-11 from Trinity High in Euless, Texas, who is considering KU, Texas, SMU and others, missed the game because of an ankle injury.

Zagsblog.com reported Friday that KU’s one-and-done center, Joel Embiid, spoke with Turner about KU at the hotel on Friday as did Alexander and Oubre.

“He (Turner) says he’s just weighing out his options right now,” Alexander told Zagsblog. “Me, Kelly and Joel have been talking to him. Joel talked to him earlier at the hotel trying to get him to commit. Hopefully, he does that.”

Turner will announce for a school on April 30 on ESPNU.

“Myles Turner is a human injury, he’s hurt all the time,” New York recruiting analyst Tom Konchalski told Zagsblog.com. “And that’s a function I think of him having to get stronger and really work on his body. He’s a long way away physically from being able to play in the NBA. I think he has tremendous potential but he’s a long way away physically.”

Junior on KU radar: Justin Simon, a 6-4, 180-pound junior shooting guard from Temecula Valley High School in Calif., tells JayhawkSlant.com that KU coach Bill Self will visit his school on Monday. Simon is ranked No. 23 in the Class of 2015 by Rivals.com. Simon is considering KU, Arizona, Colorado, Creighton, Louisville, Santa Clara, USC, Washington, New Mexico and San Diego State.