Trying to add a payment method? You can do this on the 
QuickTake:
With Takai and his twin brother, Tajuan, spending Thanksgiving apart — and thriving on opposite coasts — Oregon’s new scoring spark is learning what it means to stand on his own.
Takai Simpkins isn’t used to spending Thanksgiving away from his twin.
Oregon’s senior guard and his brother, Tajuan, have moved in lockstep their entire lives. They grew up honing their games at the neighborhood park in Brooklyn, left home during COVID-19 to play high school ball in North Carolina, moved to Florida for junior college and then made the leap together to Division I basketball at Elon University.
Last season, the 6-foot-4 Takai averaged 16.4 points and 2.6 assists for the Phoenix. Tajuan, also 6-4, averaged 14.6 and 2.9. They are, quite literally, the mirror image of each other — down to Tajuan shooting left-handed and Takai right-handed.
“Anything I did, he did,” Takai said. “Every time you saw one of us, you saw both of us. I’m more of a scorer. He’s definitely better defensively. But I really don’t see too many differences, honestly.”
But this year — and specifically this week — things are different.
After Elon went 8-10 in conference play to finish ninth in the Coastal Athletic Conference last season, both brothers knew their futures lay elsewhere. And for the first time, they knew that would mean apart.
“We already went into the portal saying to each other that if there’s a better situation for both of us, we’re going to have to split up,” Takai said. “We went into it with that mindset. We’re growing up, too, now. We can’t always be together. We just have to go to what the best situation is for us.”
For Takai, that meant Oregon. Coming off a second straight NCAA Tournament appearance, the Ducks needed a veteran scorer to replace production from graduated seniors Keeshawn Barthelemy and TJ Bamba. Takai arrived, earned a starting job, hit the game-winner in the opener against Hawaii and has settled into a role where he can complement Jackson Shelstad and Nate Bittle — or get hot and carry the offense himself.
“We got Jackson and Nate — two top 50 guys in the country — I could just see where I could get my shots in and what we needed for me,” Takai said. “It was just a good situation.”
After hitting just two of his first 13 three-point attempts, he’s knocked down 13 of his last 26, leading the team in makes.
“If you have an open three, he wants you to take one,” Takai said of his new coach, Dana Altman. “But even when I miss, I know I can’t let that affect me because I can’t be behind. I can’t be in my head about a shot I didn’t make.”
While Takai went West, Tajuan went North to Seton Hall. In New Jersey, he hasn’t just settled into the Pirates’ sixth-man role, he’s leading the team in scoring at 12.8 points per game and is shooting 52% from three for a Seton Hall team that arrived at the Maui Invitational with a 5-0 record.
“It’s just dog-like,” Tajuan told reporters last week. “In practice we’re in there bleeding every day. A lot of guys don’t have that intensity and pressure we put on people.”
The Pirates beat No. 25 NC State 85-74 Monday morning in Maui, with Tajuan scoring 11 points. Later that day, Takai scored 22 for Oregon in a 84-73 loss against No. 21 Auburn at the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas.
Takai noted that when he first looked at Oregon, he saw the Ducks were originally slated for this week’s tournament in Maui. But when Oregon shifted to the Vegas event, it created a literal ocean of separation between the brothers as they lead their respective teams this week.
They still talk every day, Takai said. They’re still each other’s best friend. And as adults, even best friends can go months without seeing one another.
Takai wouldn’t mind looking into that mirror again in March, though — with the challenge of trying to stop himself.
“He’s tough,” Takai said. “We’re really like the same person.”
