Indiana Basketball 2020 Names to Know: Lawrence Central’s Nijel Pack

The Warren Central (Indianapolis) basketball program opened a lot of eyes when they knocked Romeo Langford’s New Albany team out of the state tournament in 2018.

The Warriors went on to win the 2018 state title that year, and before they were finished they had won 46 in a row. The team that snapped that streak that extended into January 2019? Indianapolis neighbor Lawrence Central — led by point guard Nijel Pack.

Pack actually led Lawrence Central to two wins over Warren this year, including a win in the sectional finals of the state tournament.

After that second win Warren Central head coach Criss Beyers said ““If there’s a better guard in the state than Nijel I would like to see him.”

For his junior season with the Bears, Pack averaged 16.5 points per game to go with 4.1 assists, 4 rebounds and 2 steals per contest.

But the 6-foot Pack was only just getting warmed up with the high school season.

Playing for the Indy Heat on the Nike EYBL, Pack’s star continues to rise under the bright lights of one of the top AAU circuits and in front of many of the top college basketball coaches.

During the first live evaluation period of the AAU season, Pack stood out, averaging 17.2 points while shooting 58.1% from the field, and adding 3.5 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game.

Pack was named by the Nike EYBL as one of the breakout players of the weekend. D1circuit.com said this about the Indianapolis resident —

“The Indy Heat went 4-0 in Atlanta behind an eight-man rotation, which means everybody is going to be playing a lot of minutes. Junior point guard Nijel Pack figured to be a primary beneficiary of the extended minutes, and he didn’t disappoint. The 6-foot Lawrence Central (IN) product averaged 17 points on nearly 60 percent shooting and was active all over the floor. He closed the session with a 33-point outing in a close win over the NY Lightning. Pack shot 11-for-15 from the floor and made all 10 of his free throws in the 87-71 win.”

Indiana is clearly seeking additional primary ball handlers in the 2020 class, and the IU coaching staff saw Pack’s high level performances last weekend.

Thus far Pack has offers from mid majors such as Loyola Chicago, Belmont, Indiana State, Bradley, Miami (OH), Southern Illinois and Toledo.

He is presently rated by 247Sports as the No. 208 overall player in the class of 2020 and the No. 42 point guard.

While the Hoosier coaching staff has thus far focused elsewhere at the point guard position in terms of offers for incoming high school seniors, Pack is clearly a name to keep an eye as the spring and summer rolls on.

Playing on the Indy Heat with several other IU targets, the IU coaching staff is sure to do just that.

This video is from the Nike EYBL last weekend in Atlanta.