University of Akron men’s basketball players Tavari Johnson and James Okonkwo set career-highs for points in a game Tuesday night in a 86-73 win over Northern Kentucky at Rhodes Arena.
Johnson and Okonkwo were happy with how they shot the ball, but acknowledged there is still room for improvement in other areas of their games.
Akron coach John Groce agreed after watching Johnson score 27 points and Okonkwo score 17 points.
“I thought Tavari was exceptional other than the turnovers,” Groce said. “He will tell you that there are not very many coaches that want their starting point guard to have six turns in a game. If they say that, they are lying to you. He has got to be better with the ball. He knows that. He will not be happy with that number. It wasn’t great.
“Offensively, from a shooting perspective and his ability to make timely baskets, I thought those were big. … He is very gifted offensively. I have told him that for a long time. I really believe in his ability.”
Johnson and Okonkwo will get another opportunity to showcase their abilities at 3 p.m. Saturday when Akron hosts State University of New York at Brockport.
Johnson made 8 of 11 shots from field, including 4 of 6 from beyond the 3-point arc, and 7 of 8 free throws in just over 26 minutes against Northern Kentucky. He also had five assists, six turnovers, two rebounds and a block.
“We are in a good spot, but we have got way more to go to get better,” said Johnson, a 5-foot-11 junior. “We are not even close to our ceiling. We still gotta get better on the defensive end and we still gotta work on our offense flowing better. We are in a good spot, we have a good record right now and we are happy that we are winning, but we are not happy with our performance necessarily. We still gotta grow as a team.”
Okonkwo’s stat line versus Northern Kentucky included 5-of-5 shooting from the field, 7-of-7 shooting from free-throw line and five rebounds in just over 16 minutes.
“Coach does a really good job of making sure that we understand everything,” said Okonkwo, a 6-8 senior who previously played at West Virginia and North Carolina.
Groce said he likes having Johnson and 6-0 freshman Sharron Young as Akron’s primary point guards. Okonkwo, 6-7 junior Amani Lyles and 6-6 redshirt freshmen Marvin Musiime-Kamali are the top post players for the Zips.
“Okonkwo, I said to him after the game, ‘I don’t know what is more impressive, your perfect free throw and field goal percentage, or the fact you fouled five times in 16 minutes, which is equally impressive,'” Groce said. “… He is getting more comfortable as each day goes by.
“Thank goodness Marvin has practiced well and entered the rotation a couple of games ago because we needed him tonight with the foul trouble that James and Lyles were in. Marvin gave us some good minutes. I thought James was really good. What’s crazy is he played 16 minutes and he has usually been playing around 20 minutes and averaging nine rebounds a night.”
Okonkwo is one of five transfers in Akron’s regular rotation. The other four are 6-3 senior Isaiah Gray, 6-7 junior Josiah Harris, 6-2 senior Seth Wilson and 6-3 junior Bowen Hardman.
“A lot of growth still needs to happen,” Gray said. “We are all new together, but a lot of us have experience playing college basketball. Different system, different coaching, but at the end of the day we know how things can be early in the season, but also how important it is to be playing our best basketball in March. Game-by-game, practice-by-practice, we want to keep improving and learning.”
Michael Beaven can be reached by email at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.com and is on Twitter at @MBeavenABJ.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Tavari Johnson, James Okonkwo lead revamped Akron men’s basketball
