NCAA Basketball Recruiting: Precious Achiuwa schedules first two visits
UConn Huskies
Achiuwa told Bossi that he is in contact with the Huskies. Both assistant Kimani Young and head coach Dan Hurley made the trek down to Florida to see him play before the season. Hurley, Young, and assistant Tom Moore also watched him during the Hoophall Classic in Springfield, Mass.
Achiuwa has made an unofficial trip to UConn, but there is no word if he will be back on the Storrs campus. The Huskies have struggled this year as they are 13-13 overall, but only 4-9 in the American. While they will lose five seniors, including star Jalen Adams, junior guard Christian Vital and sophomore Alterique Gilbert are slated to return. Redshirt freshman Akok Akok is practicing with the team while Hurley has signed two other players from the class of 2019 — Jalen Gaffney and James Bouknight.
Those three signings leave UConn with two current scholarships left. The Huskies, who could use some size on the wing, has five open offers. 6-foot-9 big man Tre Mitchell and 6-foot-4 combo guard Sherif Kenney along with Achiuwa are Hurley’s top targets.
Memphis Tigers
Penny Hardaway has done an excellent job in his first season with the Tigers, who are 16-11 overall and 8-6 in the AAC. The Tigers, however, will lose five of their top six players from this year to graduation. Achiuwa made an unofficial trip to Memphis in the first week in October.
Hardaway has already signed three players from the class of 2019 to letters of intent, including consensus top-5 prospect James Wiseman. Four-star power forward Malcolm Dandridge and top-75 combo forward D.J. Jeffries are the other two players. That leaves the Tigers with two scholarships available, but that could change if redshirt freshman Ryan Boyce earns a scholarship as expected. Freshman Jayden Hardaway and sophomore transfer Lance Thomas also took a redshirt this season.
All this means that the Tigers have only one scholarship currently available and four open offers. They could use another wing player that is for sure. 6-foot-9 power forward Trenton Watford, and combo guard Damion Baugh seems to be their top choices. Kenyon Martin Jr. and Lester Quinones also appear to be possibilities as well.
Khari Thompson of the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported that Wiseman is trying to convince Achiuwa, Quinones, Niven Glover, Watford, and Matthew Hurt to join the Tigers.