MBB news: Arizona guard James Akinjo secures his second gold jersey

Arizona has only managed to get one game into the season, but point guard James Akinjo has continued to put in enough work on the practice floor to again land the team's gold practice jersey this week. The Georgetown transfer earned the honor a couple weeks ago as he became the first guard to wear the jersey after Jordan Brown won it twice to open the preseason followed by center Christian Koloko, who was the top practice player in the third week.

Akinjo tied Brown for the team lead with 19 points in the Wildcats' season opener against Grambling State last Friday. He also had three assists and a steal plus he led the team with four made 3-pointers in his debut at Arizona.

The junior guard from Oakland, California still had some things to clean up after his first game in nearly a year, according to UA head coach Sean Miller.

"I thought James Akinjo had a lot of good moments," Miller said after the 74-55 victory. "There were some moments that he has to learn from and he hasn't played in some time. ... James also has an inner confidence that our team needs.

"We asked him to play almost the entire game. I wish we could've given him a break, but Jemarl Baker was in such foul trouble that we just wanted to keep James on the court because of his experience. I thought he wore down a little bit as we kept playing him without a break."

Akinjo played 38 minutes in the game against Grambling as he proved to be the player Miller trusted most with the ball in his hands in the first game of the season. UA went into the matchup shorthanded as freshman combo guard Kerr Kriisa was overseas while awaiting to hear about his NCAA eligibility for the season.

If Kriisa is not cleared to play any time soon it will mean plenty of games for Akinjo that call for him to be on the floor for most of the night.

"I feel like we have enough to do what we want to do," he said about the lack of depth for UA to enter the season.

The 6-foot-1 point guard felt he shot "subpar" in his first game with the Wildcats as he made just six of his 14 shot attempts, including four of his nine attempts from 3-point range. However, Miller felt a little better about Akinjo's shooting in the win.

"James has invested a ton of time in his shooting," Miller said. "I think he's an improved shooter and more than capable of having nights like he had here tonight (Friday)."

The gold practice jersey is awarded to the top performer of the previous week based on a points system that program has created for its practices. Four different players have earned the honor of wearing the jersey through the first six weeks of the season with senior guard Terrell Brown Jr. being the other player on the list with Akinjo, Koloko and Jordan Brown.

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