Bryant and Harris-Haywood.
wasn't planning on playing in Friday night's Red Bull King of the Rock qualifying tournament in Dallas, a one-on-one basketball competition with the winner receiving an opportunity to ball in an event later this summer at the famed Alcatraz prison site in the San Francisco Bay.
But a friend coaxed the 6-foot-6 junior at
Carter High School in Dallas into registering. Before he had time to process the situation, Haywood found himself matched up with Dallas Cowboys wide receiver and certified freak daddy Dez Bryant, a 6-2, 218-pound 23-yeard old.
"Next thing I know I hear, 'Dez Bryant and Victor Haywood, court two,'" Haywood said. "I'm like, 'Oh my gosh, are you kidding me?' I walk to court two, palms sweating, nervous. It happened so quick."
Haywood ended Bryant's run in the event equally as quick, using his height advantage and jumper to beat the Cowboys star 11-8.
"I didn't think he could play basketball, honestly," Haywood said. "Being so big and stuff like that, I thought he might just be a football-type guy that put on some hoop shoes."
But like many NFL defensive backs, Haywood came away impressed with Bryant's speed and strength, which helped him pile up 63 receptions, 928 yards and nine touchdowns during the 2011 season. Posting up or driving by the former Oklahoma State star was quickly ruled out.
Haywood was eventually eliminated himself in the third round of a field that he estimates included around 50 players.
According to the Dallas Morning News, Haywood appeared in 27 games at Carter as a junior, averaging 3.3 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. He's playing this summer for the club team Next Generation Dallas and hoping to catch the eye of college programs.
Friday night's showdown with Bryant isn't Haywood's only Cowboy connection. His uncle, the late Ennis Haywood, played for the famed franchise in 2002. Like many Texans, the rising senior is a huge fan of the team.