Ayeni offers Mocs quick boost inside
After the 2020-21 season, his first at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Josh Ayeni looked around and saw coach Lamont Paris and his staff recruiting people to create depth at the post position.
The Mocs brought in Silvio De Sousa. They brought in Avery Diggs.
Those additions were intended for the greater good of the team, but it was also a pretty clear sign to Ayeni that if he didn’t work and improve certain things in his game, he could easily find himself on the outside looking when it came to the playing rotation.
So he worked. He was performing very well until a shoulder injury set him back in the preseason, but even then he spent a lot of that time on the sideline running sprints when he wasn’t rehabbing his shoulder.
The minutes may not always come in bunches, but Ayeni intends to be ready when his number is called. That was the case in UTC’s 75-64 season-opening win over Loyola Marymount on Tuesday, when he contributed six points and five rebounds in 13 minutes and was the go-to big man down the stretch in Los Angeles.
After a poor first half, the 6-foot-7, 215-pounder contributed six points and three rebounds in just 7 minutes and 50 seconds of second-half action. More importantly, the Mocs outscored the Lions 23-8 in the time he was on the court.
“Until the injury, he had been one of the most improved guys I’ve been around in a short time,” Paris said after the Mocs won a matchup of two of the top 25 mid-major programs in the country. “He was playing really well, I mean really well before he got nicked up, and so that set him back a little bit with his cardio again, but he’s been working his way back.
“He adds another level of toughness and physicality. He can move his feet well, and today he injected our offense with a couple of little jump shots that we needed.”
Ayeni and the Mocs (1-0) will try to keep the momentum going Sunday, when they host UNC Asheville (1-1) at 2 p.m. at McKenzie Arena.
It’s not like a productive Ayeni is a new development. He started his collegiate career at St. Bonaventure and played in 56 games (40 starts) there, averaging 6.1 points and more than 16 minutes in two seasons for a program that advanced to the NCAA tournament in 2018. His first trip to Chattanooga was as a member of South Alabama’s team in 2019-20, and he scored a season-high 12 points in a loss to the Mocs.
Last season he scored in double digits five times, including a 17-point, seven-rebound performance against The Citadel.
So if he can show the ability to contribute more — even if only in spurts — the Mocs will be that much better.
“It’s good for me. It’s all work,” Ayeni said of his performance against Loyola Marymount. “I just trust my work. It’s all I have, and I’ll just keep continuing to go out there and doing what I have to do.”