A prodigal son has returned to UofL Basketball; a player long forgotten after he transferred to Georgetown. Chris Mack has brought back Akoy Agau as a grad transfer. So, Agau’s career has now come full circle and shall end where it began. This has been in the works for a few weeks.
Akoy Agau, a 6-8 forward who played his freshman year at Louisville, has joined the Cardinals’ men’s basketball roster as a graduate transfer #GoCards https://t.co/pD1hIRK8tK pic.twitter.com/LQIdH3dNiu
— Louisville Basketball (@LouisvilleMBB) June 23, 2018
Agau, a 6’8 230 lbs F from NE, played at UofL for 2 seasons. While he did show a little promise in very limited playing time, he never quite capitalized on it.
The inability of Agau to reach his potential likely has to do with two issues. The first is Agau having to battle Montrezl Harrell for playing time. Obviously, it was a losing battle for him competing against a future pro for playing time.
Secondly, he dealt with a sports hernia that required surgery. The injury was only supposed to keep him off the court for 6 weeks, but it eventually forced him to miss 10 weeks of basketball development and it hindered his sophomore campaign.
Agau was also given an indefinite suspension during his freshman year by former coach Rick Pitino for what was deemed a “very minor” attitude problem. That suspension ended up being for one game.
Agau only averaged 0.9 points per game, 1.1 rebounds per game, 0.1 assists per game, 0.1 steals per game, and 0.3 blocks per game as a freshman in 2013-2014. He only saw action in 19 games and for only 5 minutes per game.
His sophomore year was even more disappointing as he got lost in the shuffle behind guys like Harrell, Chinanu Onuaku, Anas Mahmoud, Mangok Mathiang, and Jaylen Johnson; likely due to his missing time with the sports hernia. He appeared in only 3 games averaging 3.7 minutes per game and only registering 0.3 rebounds per those 3 games without contributing in any other statistical category save turnovers.
This led Agau to announce he was transferring in December 2014.
Initially it was believed by most Agau would venture back home to Nebraska to play for the Cornhuskers. However, he instead chose to become a Georgetown Hoya.
Agau’s career at Georgetown got off to an inauspicious start. After sitting out the remainder of the 2014-2015 season as a transfer, he was forced to miss the 2015-2016 campaign due to a torn ACL.
However, he eventually recovered and became a dependable sub for the Hoyas. In the 2016-2017 season, he played in all 32 games, started 8 of those games, and averaged 15 minutes per game. He averaged 4.5 points per game and 4.3 rebounds per game.
Agau graduated in 2 years from Georgetown and after the 2016-2017 campaign, he chose to become a grad transfer.
Agau ended up choosing to play at SMU for the 2017-2018 season. He played in 27 games, started 9 of them, and averaged 16.1 minutes per game for the Mustangs. He did miss some time due to an undisclosed infection.
In the time he did get on the court, Agau averaged 5 points per game and 3.6 rebounds per game. He was once again, when healthy, a reliable sub that could provide valuable minutes.
Agau, after transferring to SMU, petitioned the NCAA for an extra year of eligibility. The NCAA granted it to him because he missed an entire season at Georgetown due to an ACL tear and he only played in 3 games for UofL in his half season as a sophomore, mainly due to his sports hernia injury.
Up Up and Away…… #StayTuned #L1C4 pic.twitter.com/IpBeagFsws
— Akoy Agau (@AkoyAgau) June 23, 2018
Now Agau has returned to his old Kentucky home to play out that extra year of eligibility. He will provide another body for Chris Mack to utilize in practice and in games as a sub. I wouldn’t expect him to be someone the offense runs through. His size and ability will give Mack another experienced big and help alleviate some of the potential depth issues in the front court.
I think the stats you saw for him at Georgetown and SMU are what you can expect from him this year; somewhere around 5 points and 5 rebounds per game.
Now that Coach Mack has addressed front court depth, he will likely see if he can find one more wing player to help with depth for this upcoming season. It appears this wing player may end up being a high school recruit rather than a grad transfer as Coach Mack and staff are heavily involved with 2018 3 Star prospect Anthony Higgs.
Higgs, a 6’7 200 lbs SF out of Baltimore, MD, had originally signed a Letter of Intent with Ole Miss before asking for and receiving his release from it on March 25. Along with UofL, Illinois and Virginia Tech are also recruiting Higgs.
As far as Agau, it is good to see a great kid, by all accounts, return to his first school to finish out his career. He’s had a long, winding, injury-plagued path, but hopefully Agau can end his career on a high note and help Coach Mack start his UofL career on one.
All stats courtesy of sports-reference.com
