Quiet resolve
Back at full strength, Akok vows to be a force
STORRS — Akok Akok has never been a man of volume. A conversation with him features an economy of words, a mellow tone, a certain mystique.
And it was with such matterof-factness that Akok declared to the college basketball world on Wednesday that, if anyone’s forgotten him, they’ll soon feel his presence.
“The game of basketball has been taken away from me for a year,” Akok said. “It’s really redemption for me. I’m coming to get what’s mine — not get, coming to take what’s mine.”
Not fighting words, though they’re born of a frustrating 18 months. Akok, 6 feet 9, ruptured his left Achilles on Feb. 16, 2020, at the XL Center. Though he made it back to the court on the front side of the 12- to 18-month recovery estimate, he was a shell of himself.
It was going to take the full year and a half, a checkpoint he finally reached this week, and he feels the difference.
“I feel amazing compared to back in March,” Akok said. “My body feels incredible. I feel much healthier. Once I went home back [to New Hampshire] in May, that was the real turnaround. This summer is the most that I’ve felt, ‘I’m back.’ ”
Akok came to Uconn from Putnam Science in January 2019 with big things expected, a shotblocker with perimeter shooting ability, a skill set that screamed early entry to the NBA. Had things gone differently, he might’ve been set to join James Bouknight in Brooklyn next week for the draft.
Akok averaged 28 minutes, 5.8 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.6 blocks as a freshman. The desire that burns within, the energy with which he practices and plays endeared him to teammates and coaches. Uconn coach Dan Hurley was in tears on the day Akok fell awkwardly in the game against Memphis, and his teammates rallied furiously to win.
Hurley knew immediately what it was. He’d lost E.C. Matthews, his star at Rhode Island, to an torn Achilles, and he knew how long and hard the road back would be.
It was 2020, so of course things were more complicated. COVID-19 forced Akok to stay on campus, nearly alone, through the spring, summer and fall to do his rehab and, by all accounts, he crushed it. When the season began, late, Akok was itching to return, and he did on Jan. 9, but it was clear to the coaches he was not yet moving around like the player they knew.
“You get cleared at 11 months but you’re not back to 100% until 18 months,” Hurley said. “He had a hard time dealing with the reality of that, and as coaches it was a tough thing to manage.”
Here began the intrigue, as Hurley tried to walk and talk a fine line. Looking to keep Akok’s spirits up, keep him motivated to continue his work toward full recovery, he dangled the possibility Akok would play, and looked for situations where he could contribute without exposing him on defense. They found 10 minutes for Akok at Xavier on Feb. 13, and he scored seven welltimed points, energizing his teammates to produce one of the biggest wins of the season.
But he played only eight more minutes the rest of the season as other injuries, such as a bruised shin, and general soreness and fatigue limited his mobility. No one wanted to write Akok off for the season, but by the end Hurley tired of explaining that this injury was going to take more time, and more patience.
“It was difficult,” Akok said. “I love to play the game of basketball, shooting every night, but you’ve just got to trust the process with this injury. My time will come. Coach Hurley just always told me to stay the course, it’s going to be a tough rehabilitation, but if you come to work every day, he was promising me, he would get me back to where I was, 100%.”
Long talks with supportive teammates, like roommate Jalen Gaffney, helped. In May Akok left campus after more than a year to visit family for an extended period, and he returned with a refreshed attitude to go with his nearly healed leg.
“It rejuvenated him,” Hurley said. “He came back with that look in his eye he had when he got here, that self-belief, that hunger, that player that’s on a mission to reach these big goals.”
This summer, Akok said, he no longer feels the pain and soreness he would feel after workouts. He took heart from Kevin Durant’s return to form for the Nets after rupturing his Achilles, a process that took the full 18 months between games, from June 10, 2019 to Dec. 22, 2020. Akok’s 11 years younger, a better place for a full recovery.
“Seeing K.D. come back, do what he did this season, it really helped me a lot,” Akok said. “It was a confidence booster, really helped me a lot, mentally.”
Coaches, teammates and, most importantly, Akok, himself, see the difference. He’s in the Werth Center more, working on his 3-point shooting, his offensive footwork, his perimeter defense, and he’s put on about 15 pounds of what looks like solid muscle, filling out to about 230. Still soft-spoken, still a man of few words, Akok’s ready to reclaim dreams delayed, not denied.
“There were a lot of highs and lows,” he said. “A long road, journey of 1,000 miles. ... I’m trying to remind everyone who I am, who I was before the injury. I want to prove myself as one of the best two-way players in the country.”