Georgetown Basketball: James Akinjo making basketball fun again for the Hoyas

Mac McClung has drawn a lot of the attention for the Georgetown Hoyas, but he isn’t the only one to keep an eye on this season. James Akinjo is making moves of his own.

A lot of the spotlight has been on Mac McClung and Jessie Govan for the Georgetown Hoyas, but 6-foot guard James Akinjo is a player that looks like he’s going to make a lot of plays and win a lot of games for them.

Akinjo was awarded Big East Freshman of the Week honors this past week for his performances in the past few games. He’s averaged 14.3 points and 4.7 assists per contest in the last three games for the Hoyas. He came up big in their 76-73 overtime win over the South Florida Bulls this past Sunday in their consolation game of the Jamaica Classic.

Akinjo drained a 3-pointer to tie the game at 63 with 4.9 seconds left in regulation. He made a winding layup in traffic in overtime with 30.1 seconds left in overtime to put the Hoyas up 73-69. Akinjo finished the game 14 points, five assists and three steals as Georgetown won the game in the end. Govan finished with 27 points, six rebounds and two blocks in the victory, shooting 10-of-19 from the field but shooting the 3-ball is one area where Georgetown needs to improve.

Georgetown shot just 5-of-18 (27.8 percent) from behind the arc against the Bulls. In their opening round loss to the Loyola Marymount Lions on Friday, they shot 3-of-19 (15.8 percent) from behind the arc in a 65-52 loss.

Akinjo stepped up big on Nov. 13 in a big 88-80 victory over the Illinois Fighting Illini last Tuesday. He put up 19 points, seven assists and three rebounds in a comeback victory. LeBlanc finished with 14 points and seven rebounds off the bench in that one as well.

The Hoyas are still figuring things out but they may have found their closer for the next four seasons if he stays that long. They have a tough opponent coming up after Thanksgiving in the Campbell Camels on Nov. 24.

Their frontcourt is stout with Govan and freshman forward Josh LeBlanc off the bench, but the Hoyas are a young team. LeBlanc is also another young big man that’s earned minutes as the team’s sixth man. He’s put up double figures in points in three of their five games of the season so far and has been a burden to bear on the glass.

Georgetown seems to be figuring things out entering Year 2 under head coach Patrick Ewing. He’s got a playmaker in Akinjo, he’ll just need to keep developing players around him.