Rookie Ochai Agbaji dedicated his career-high 27 points to his mother after leading the Utah Jazz to a 128-120 win over high-flying Sacramento Kings at the Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City in Utah.
The Jazz were without All-Star forward Lauri Markkannen and guard Colin Sexton but the rookie stepped up to the plate scoring 27 points, five rebounds and three assists. He made six of 10 three point attempts. His compatriot Udoka Azubuike also scored a career-high 13 points in the win, also adding eight rebounds and one assist in 18 minutes from the bench.
The win sees the Jazz increase their chances of making the postseason play-in while the loss sees the Kings drop to third in the Western Conference with the Memphis Grizzlies moving to second after their 112-106 win over the Dallas Mavericks.
Chimezie Metu in 10 minutes on the court scored four points and four rebounds. De’Aaron Fox had the most impressive performance of the game clocking 37 points seven assists and four rebounds while Keegam Muray contributed 22 points, six rebounds and one assist.
Happy with his performance, Agbaji says he is delighted to be able to share his historic night with his mother who was there to witness the game, “It’s a really special night for her to see that,” he said.
“She came to the games over Halloween weekend, and I played a little bit then too, so she got to see that. But then obviously later in the season she came in here and saw my career-high, so it’s a really special night.”
