Kobi Simmons and Alkins, both freshmen at the time, received the bulk of additional playing time when Trier missed half of last season, and it paid off. In Simmons’ case, it did so immediately, with him singlehandedly keeping the Wildcats alive in an opener against Michigan State they eventually came back to win. For Alkins, the extra time helped develop him into a consistent producer by the end of the season.
Now Alkins is out until at least the end of November with a broken foot. In his place at small forward, the Wildcats will turn primarily to freshmen Brandon Randolph and Emmanuel Akot, two players whose combined skills cover a lot of areas that the Wildcats will need help with ahead: Randolph is an aggressive, athletic scoring wing while Akot is a versatile offensive player with defensive ranginess and attitude.
“They’re very different players,” Miller said. “Emmanuel is blessed with unbelievable court vision. He’s kind of like a point guard even when he’s not the actual point guard out there. He’s a tremendous defensive player with great size.
People are also reading…
“Brandon’s very explosive on the offensive end and continuing to develop defensively. As we continue to implement our system, Brandon is one of those guys you want to free up to score because he does it so naturally.”
While they won’t be as impacted by Alkins’ absence directly, UA can also hope for further development in combo guard Alex Barcello and power forward Ira Lee, two freshmen who could become useful role players down the stretch.
