Sean Miller: James Akinjo ‘heart and soul’ for Arizona Basketball

The Arizona Basketball team wraps up an unusual and unprecedented 2020-21 season on Monday, with James Akinjo being instrumental to the teams’ success. 

As the Arizona Basketball team (17-8, 11-8) walked off the floor victorious for one final time in McKale Center for 2020-21, it was former Georgetown guard James Akinjo that helped propel the Wildcats to the win, just as he has done many other times this season.

His head coach Sean Miller took to yet another press conference, lauding and praising his point guard for being the ‘heart and soul’ of this team. And he has been too!

Arizona Wildcats

In a wild and unprecedented year where no fans have been in attendance, and the Wildcats won’t be eligible for the NCAA postseason because of a self-imposed ban, behind Arizona’s success has been the play of Akinjo.

A fiery and stout guard from Oakland, CA, it is quite interesting how his path has brought him to Tucson.

Originally a standout guard in the class of 2018, Akinjo was pursued by Arizona out of high school, but ultimately committed to play for Georgetown.

Playing two years with the Hoyas, Akinjo put together a solid resume, starting in 39 of 40 games, averaging 13.4 points, 5.1 assists, and 2.9 rebounds per game.

However, ironically enough, two years after initially committing to Georgetown over Arizona, James made the move to come back West, committing to one of the schools that initially pursued him out of Salesian High School.

And the move has paid off too. This year Akinjo has been outstanding! He has appeared and started in all 25 games for the Wildcats, putting together a stellar campaign in which he has been averaging 15.4 points, 5.3 assists, and 2.3 rebounds. Even better, is that Akinjo is shooting a career-best 40.7 percent from three.

As the Wildcats have endured their fair share of growing pains this season (FYI, they have had to break in seven new players), Akinjo has been consistent.

James Akinjo has been a steady driving force behind the success of Arizona Basketball this season.

Coming in, we all knew that this team would likely not be an Arizona team that fans typically demand and expect. However, as we have all been pleasantly surprised by the results and outcome, optimism grows for the future, a lot of that centers around Akinjo.

He embraces and personifies that toughness and confidence that Arizona has been longing for. Akinjo has been the backbone of this team, and he truly has been the ‘heart and soul’ for a team desperately looking for consistency in uncertain times.

Well, come Monday evening, as the Wildcats take to the floor one last time, precipitously ending an abbreviated 2020-21 season in Oregon, Akinjo will look to lead the Cats once again. Hopefully Arizona’s ‘heart and soul’ prevails once more.