Akok staying positive through ‘boring’ rehab
It happened almost exactly one minute into a Feb. 16 showdown with Memphis, a mere seconds after one of his patented blocked shots.
Akok Akok’s season — and, it appeared at the time, his basketball career — went tumbling to the ground that Sunday afternoon in Hartford. The precocious forward had torn the Achilles tendon in his left leg.
“I was worried out of my mind,” Akok recalled. “When they first told me, I started panicking, like a normal person would. I thought my career would be affected.”
Still, that didn’t stop him from returning to the bench just before halftime to cheer on his teammates. In fact, Akok may have handled the news better than others around him.
Dan Hurley could barely contain his tears as Akok was taken off the court, and couldn’t contain them at all at halftime or during the postgame press conference.
Akok’s teammates, inspired all season by the 6-foot-9 freshman’s energy and exuberance, seemed stunned. The sold-out XL Center crowd, as well.
“When I went to the (locker room), you could see everybody in the arena was on their feet,” Akok recalled. “I could definitely see the love that they had for me. It’s a great fanbase. When you have a fanbase like that, that cares about someone like me, it makes it a great decision to come here.
“It gives me a lot of motivation to get back on the court.”
In the hours and days that followed, an outpouring of
sorrow, hope, love, you name the emotion, dominated UConn-related social media. It couldn’t have been more heartfelt.
Akok Akok, the skinny kid from Sudan via New Hampshire, had won over Husky fans in just 25 games like few players have in recent memory. His unabashed love for the game, mixed with a certain youthful exuberance, had made him a fan favorite not seen around these parts since perhaps Khalid El-Amin.
Poor Tyler Polley had suffered a season-ending ACL tear about a month earlier, but hardly seemed to generate the amount of compassion from UConn Nation. Sure, mostly because there’s a much higher rate of success coming back from a torn ACL than a torn Achilles, but at least partly attributable to the bond fans feel with Akok. And don’t think he didn’t notice.
“I started to feel that towards the end, around January,” he said. “We had a good record, we were going up and they started showing love. They started to see what the young guys were bringing to the table and what the future was gonna be like.”
“He’s all heart,” said Hurley. “What you’d see as a fan on game night was a guy who played with so much energy. The end of the court where he was excelling at the highest level was an end of the court that a lot of people don’t want to embrace. Only really selfless people — especially early in their career — play at that end of the court the way that Akok does, defensively.”
There’s an energy and a certain innocence to Akok. Whether he’s mistakenly popping out of the runway onto the court before the mascot prior to his first exhibition game; sprinting up and down the court ahead of everyone; his oncourt celebrations that don’t feel rehearsed or in-yourface; or, simply, returning to the bench to cheer on his teammates minutes after a career-threatening injury, Akok has a real effect on people.
“People can see, when teammates make a great play or shot, that he was genuinely pumping his fists, smiling, almost more excited than anyone else in the arena when his teammates did something positive,” Hurley said. “People feel that, they see it, and it makes people love you.”
It’s nothing new, said Tom Espinosa, Akok’s coach for 21⁄2 seasons at Putnam Science Academy.
“No one out-hustled him,” Espinosa recalled. “He blocked shots, guys fell down, he’d help his teammates. He was awesome. That’s exactly what we saw for two years. All the kids that played with him at PSA loved him. We still have videos of him singing in the dorm. He had a great time here, we absolutely loved Akok. Everyone at Putnam loved him.”
Sound familiar? “Everybody loves him,” said UConn trainer James Doran. “It’s because of that energy. Even when he’s not there, especially coach (Hurley) — they miss the energy that he brings. Especially this day and age, young guys kind of get caught up in being very mundane, day-in and day-out. They’re kind of just going through the motions, because they know that’s what they have to do, as far as the process goes. Whereas Akok actually enjoys and loves the process and brings the energy to it, and the guys actually feed off it. It helps them, when they see the energy he brings. They almost fall in line with it.”
‘BORING’ REHAB
Doran has spent as much time with Akok as anyone over the past three months, guiding him through a rehab process that, to this point, has largely been repetitive and methodical.
Or, as Akok put it bluntly, “It’s boring as hell right now.”
Now in his 13th week of post-operative rehab, Akok is mostly working on “regular, true strength” in his calf, according to Doran. That means a walking routine on an Alter G, antigravity treadmill that allows him to walk at a decreased percentage of his 195-pound body weight.
There is some legwork, and recently some upperbody work with strength and conditioning coordinator Sal Alosi. Akok is doing a little shooting, as well — mostly flat-footed.
For the most part, Akok’s rehab work — done almost exclusively at the Burton football complex — isn’t very fun.
“He goes up and down a little bit, emotionally, just because of the long process that it is,” Doran reported. “He always works hard, that’s never been a problem. But sometimes he has to dig deep to find the energy, just because it’s the same thing over and over again.”
Akok has been on campus, the best place for his rehab, throughout the entire coronavirus pandemic. He’s been joined recently by a couple of teammates, James Bouknight and Josh Carlton (who recently returned home), with whom he can play video game, watch TV and hang out.
Akok’s rehab should start picking up soon. At the 16-week mark (mid-June), he will likely be able to start some early running — either on the Alter G machine, or in a pool. His next step on the court will be consistently stepping into and elevating his heels on his shot.
Akok is confident he’ll be running, on land, by lateAugust or September. He believes he’ll be back on the court, playing pick-up games and participating in contact drills, by October or November, and will need about a month before he’s gameready.
“I feel like I’ll be ready around November or December,” Akok said, confidently.
Doran and Hurley are on the same page as far as being extra cautious.
“With the high-profile, potential NBA first-round talent, there’s a lot of pressure on us to make sure that the next time people see him in a UConn uniform, that he looks like his old self,” Hurley said. “So, it’s our responsibility not to let him get on that court until he looks the way he should look, and that he’s far enough away from the injury that the medical team believes that it’s time — 100 percent.”
Doran did note that Dr. Martin O’Malley, who performed Akok’s surgery (as well as Kevin Durant’s) said he has no problem with Akok returning in November or December if he’s cleared and ready to go.
“If, from a rehab standpoint, we get him back to playing elite basketball and the surgeon is giving the green light, then I’m good with that,” said Doran. “But we’re not gonna rush him back just to meet that timeline.”
“His athleticism, his work ethic, his drive to reach the highest level in his sport, he’s got a lot of things in his favor,” Hurley noted. “We all have an incredibly positive outlook for him.”
Added Akok, simply, “I’m looking forward to getting back.”
So are his coaches, his teammates — and an entire fanbase.