AAC Basketball: 25 best players from last decade (2013-23)
By Joey Loose
9. Precious Achiuwa
Achiuwa came to Memphis in 2019 as part of a highly-ranked recruiting class. A 6’9 forward from the Bronx, Achiuwa was a 5-star recruit but was slightly overshadowed by James Wiseman, part of the same freshman class at Memphis. With Wiseman dealing with eligibility issues, Achiuwa became the stud of this recruiting class and had quite the freshman campaign at Memphis before leaving for the NBA.
On the court, Achiuwa was an impressive frontcourt weapon, averaging 15.8 points and 10.8 rebounds per game in his lone collegiate campaign. He had some pretty incredible performances, including a 22-point, 17-rebound game at Cincinnati and a 22-point, 22-rebound effort in a win at Tulane. Unfortunately, Achiuwa’s season was cut short by the pandemic and Memphis did not play any postseason games.
However, he had already done more than enough to showcase his talent and was named both AAC Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year for that season. He led the conference in rebounding and was one of the top scorers and shot blockers as well. His defensive metrics were perhaps more impressive than his offensive ones and he helped Memphis to a 21-win campaign before becoming a 1st round NBA draft pick.