Syracuse knocks off UConn in Big East throwback game
NEW YORK -- It didn't go six
By SEAN BOCK
The UConn men’s basketball program has received the National Letters of Intent from guard James Akinjo, forward Emmitt Matthews Jr., and center Lukas Kisunas.
The three make up the current 2018 recruiting class for the Huskies and will enroll in classes in the fall of 2018.
“It’s a good mix, and they are all players that we need,” head coach Kevin Ollie said in a release. “They are all coming in here for a reason. A lot of people look at the rankings, but they are top 10 players for us as a team. That’s what we’re looking for, and that’s what we’re striving to do with our recruiting.”
MONTCLAIR, N.J. — Last season was not easy for Kevin Ollie and the UConn Huskies.
They lost their first two games of the 2016-17 season — to Wagner and Northeastern. They then suffered through a slew of injuries before finishing 16-17, 9-9 in the American Athletic Conference. After the season, a slew of players transferred or asked out of their Letters of Intent.
“We went through some adversities, in life you have adversities,” Ollie told me on Friday at the Garden State Basketball Clinic at Immaculate Conception High School.
“It’s how you respond and hopefully…I’m not even going to say hopefully, we will respond like champions because we always face adversity.”
Following the news last week that Sidney Wilson would transfer to UConn from St. John’s, UConn announced Tuesday that Wilson has enrolled at the school.
Even though he is a freshman beginning his first full semester of classes, he was enrolled in summer school classes at St. John’s and is considered a transfer. Per NCAA rules, he must sit out the 2017-18 basketball season, pending the outcome of a waiver application. If the waiver is denied, Wilson will be able to practice with the Huskies throughout this season and will have four years of eligibility remaining, beginning with the 2018-19 season.
“We are happy and excited to welcome Sid to the UConn family,” UConn coach Kevin Ollie said. “He is an outstanding player and a high-character young man, who has the kind of talent, versatility and athleticism that we want in our program.
