COVINGTON, Ga. — From July 17-24, the 26th annual Nike Peach Jam, held in North Augusta, South Carolina, took place. The basketball tournament features the best high school basketball players from around the country and Canada. 

Included in the mix was Tay Jeffries — an upcoming junior guard for the Newton Rams basketball team — and he was a member of The Shot Factory team. 

In the tournament, Jeffries averaged 6.2 points per game on 40% shooting from the field. Additionally, he recorded an average of three rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.2 steals while playing around 11.8 minutes per contest. 

Recently, Jeffries discussed his experience at this year’s Peach Jam with The Covington News. 

Q: You participated in the Peach Jam…How was that experience playing this summer? 

TJ: It was a good experience. I got to play against some high level competition and it was fun to do that. 

Q: What did you learn throughout the tournament about yourself as an individual player? 

TJ: I learned how to get to my spots and find the defense’s weaknesses. Overall, I grew in my ability to see what I’m efficient in on both ends of the floor. 

Q: How did you go about learning that during each game? 

TJ:  We had times where we would watch film on the team we were facing next. From that, we figured out who the key players were and how they play defense. 

Q: What was the coolest part of your experience playing in this tournament? 

TJ:  The coolest part was playing in front of people like LeBron [James] and college scouts. And seeing everybody get together and watch our games was pretty cool, too. 

Q: Did you get to meet LeBron? 

TJ: I didn’t get to meet LeBron. But I’ve never seen LeBron in person before so that was pretty cool by itself. 

Q: How do you plan to take this experience and help grow your game for Newton’s next season? 

TJ: I’m planning to just stay in the gym. I’ve got to get more efficient on my shot-making, because I had a lot of open shots that I missed. So, I got to stay in the gym and keep working on my shot and ball-handling. 

Q: How important has Newton County and Newton High School been to you and your success? 

TJ: Their support has been very important to my success. Newton basketball is a big program, so their support goes a long way to helping me grow and keep playing at the next level. 

Q: In what ways do you think you can get better following, not only this experience at the Peach Jam, but your offseason work as a whole? 

TJ:  I just need to keep watching film on myself and seeing why am I missing open shots. And then my film on defense, seeing how I can stop other players. Seeing how other players move and play and see what I can add to my game.