Mikayla Blakes timed her jump perfectly, grabbed the rebound off the front of the rim and tipped the ball in with 0.8 seconds left on the clock. Moments later she was celebrating Vanderbilt’s first win against rival Tennessee since 2019.
Then something funny happened.
“After the handshake line, I was like, ‘Who is this bald head on the court? I swear I’ve seen this reaction before,’” she said of a passionate Vanderbilt fan who stormed the court. “I was like, ‘Who is this? I know him.’
“Then I got closer and was like, ‘Wow. My dad just made it to the court. Where did he come from?’”
Monroe Blakes, a former player and member of the Hall of Fame at Division II St. Michael’s College in Vermont, is typically more reserved by nature. The Blakes are a humble family and the idea of her dad blowing past security to storm the court had Mikayla cracking up. But Monroe couldn’t help himself Sunday when his daughter, the Commodores’ freshman phenom, hit the game-winner in the biggest moment of her college career.
Just like he couldn’t contain his emotions on Saturday, either, when Mikayla’s older brother, Stanford guard Jaylen Blakes, drove the length of the court at the Dean E. Smith Center and knocked down a game-winning stepback jumper from the left wing against North Carolina with 0.9 seconds remaining.
Two kids, two buzzer beaters in two days, one elated dad on hand to see both in person.
“The word I keep using is ‘Amazing. Blessed.’ And I’m not sure if that does it justice,” Monroe Blakes said. “I started playing basketball when I was 13, so I’ve been playing it for 40-plus years. … But the two of them have taken me to new heights and new memories that in my previous 40 years I hadn’t experienced.
“What are the odds that brother and sister would do (that) back-to-back?”
The face of a proud dad 🥹
Mikayla Blakes and brother Jaylen Blakes both hit game winning shots within 24 hours of one another.#AnchorDown pic.twitter.com/mCSB9OxHe1
— Vanderbilt WBB (@VandyWBB) January 19, 2025
MIKAYLA BLAKES WITH THE PUT BACK DORES UP BY ONE#AnchorDown pic.twitter.com/uCXnEgAiXw
— Vanderbilt WBB (@VandyWBB) January 19, 2025
Jaylen, who spent three years at Duke before transferring to Stanford as a graduate for his final season of eligibility, was no stranger to playing at the Dean Dome. He went 2-1 in three games in Chapel Hill with Duke and dreamed about having his own big moment at one of the sport’s most celebrated venues.
The night before Stanford took the court, Jaylen spent some time thinking about former Blue Devils guard Austin Rivers, whose iconic game-winning shot against UNC in 2012 still lives in Duke lore. He also flashed back to Wendell Moore’s game-winning put-back at the Smith Center in 2020 that gave Duke the win over the Tar Heels in overtime.
“That’s just something that I was dreaming about,” Jaylen said. “And to be able to be in that moment was something special.”
With Stanford trailing 71-70 with seven seconds remaining, Jaylen inbounded the ball under the Cardinal’s basket. He got the ball right back and streaked down the left sideline.
“I had a very good defender on me in Seth Trimble. So I was like, ‘All right, he’s gonna cut me off,’” Jaylen said. “And as soon as he cut me off, I felt his momentum going backwards so I decided to step back and make the shot.
“It was unbelievable. It was an unbelievable moment. One thing about when you take that shot, it’s not just you that’s taking that shot. It’s everybody that has supported you along the way on that journey.”
From the stands, Monroe felt as though he was watching the play develop in slow motion. It took him a second to comprehend what he’d just seen.
“That ball went in. That went in,” he recalled thinking. “That’s the game-winner.”
In Nashville, Mikayla had just gotten out of practice and was watching the game on her cell phone before heading over to Memorial Gymnasium to see Vanderbilt’s men’s team take on Tennessee later that afternoon. She missed the shot in real time because her stream kept freezing. But when an influx of text messages and phone calls started to come in, she presumed Stanford won and rushed to the locker room for better service to rewind the feed.
“I saw that he hit the shot and I was just over the moon excited,” said Mikayla, a former five-star prospect who leads all freshmen nationally in scoring at 20.2 points per game. “I started FaceTiming my dad and then started calling my brother because by that time, he had already made it to the locker room. So I was just calling my brother’s phone and texting him, just so excited.”
Jaylen and Mikayla Blakes. (Vanderbilt Athletics)
The next day, Monroe flew into Nashville, where his wife Nikkia joined him, for Mikayla’s game. The Blakes, who live in New Jersey, made a pact that at least one of them would do everything possible to be at every one of their children’s games — no small feat, considering Jaylen and Mikayla play on opposite sides of the country.
When Vanderbilt lost a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter and it became clear the game would come down to the wire, one of the Blakes’ friends said the quiet part out loud.
“It was funny, somebody who was with us said to us, ‘What if Mikayla hits the game-winner?’” Monroe said. “I’m like, ‘No, I don’t think that can happen again twice. That can’t happen.’”
Jaylen, back on campus in California, watched the entire game from Stanford’s training room while receiving treatment. He, too, was dubious his family could be so lucky in one weekend.
“I was thinking, ‘There can’t be any way that we both hit a game-winner back-to-back days.’ And it came down to the final play,” he said. “I saw the missed layup and she trailed it and made it and when I realized she made it, I ran around the training room screaming like, ‘Oh my goodness, oh my goodness.’ It was special.”
In the moments after Monroe stormed the court to celebrate, Jaylen FaceTimed his parents to join in on the fun. Mikayla would later learn from her mom that the moment brought tears to her dad’s eyes. By the time Mikayla got back to the locker room, she had six missed calls from Jaylen.
“I picked up on the seventh call,” she said.
“I’m just lucky to have her as my sister,” Jaylen added. “Lucky to be her big brother.”
This week, Monroe has finally responded to the approximately 100 text messages he received as he continues to ride the high of what Mikayla joked might be the best moment of his life.
From all the times he rebounded for his kids in the yard or Nikkia helped pull them apart when one-on-one games got too competitive, this was a moment the Blakes family will never forget.
“One of the things that I love about my kids is they have a very competitive streak,” Monroe said. “They compete against each other but love each other, so it makes each one of them better. It was just an amazing dynamic — that love and support of each other.
“They talk all the time, they give each other tips. She called him after the game when he hit his game-winner and he gave her a call and that’s why I’m so proud. They just put a lot of work in and I’m just happy for them in that moment.”
(Top photos: Grant Halverson / Getty Images; Andrew Nelles / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
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