Christmas came a day late for former Arkansas one-and-done point guard Anthony Black, who scored a career-high 23 points for the Orlando Magic against the Washington Wizards and former Razorback Daniel Gafford on Tuesday evening.
The No. 6 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, Black did it all in his 33 minutes on the floor during the 127-119 win for Orlando. He was 9-13 shooting from the field with four made threes, six rebounds, four steals and one assist inside Capital One Arena in Washington.
“I got a couple of ones in transition and then just got pretty open threes, to be honest,” Black said in the postgame press conference. “I’m pretty sure most of my points were assisted, so it definitely goes out to the guys for finding me.”
Prior to Tuesday's breakout performance, Black's season-high was 13 points in a losing effort against the Boston Celtics on Dec. 15. The rookie has now played in 27 games and he's started 24 this season for the Magic. He's averaging 5.7 points, 2.6 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 0.6 steals per game.
"We're playing good ball right now," Black told reporters after Tuesday's game. "I'm really just trying to focus on that honestly. I know it is going to come game by game. I'm getting more comfortable. I'm just trying to do what helps us win."
Black earned SEC All-Freshman team honors by being the only player in the league to rank top-25 in scoring, rebounding, assists, steals and blocked shots during the 2022-23 season. He averaged 12.8 points and 5.1 rebounds while playing more minutes per game (34:51) than anyone in the SEC.
The Magic will be back in action Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. CT against the Philadelphia 76ers.
Highlights
