Justin Tuoyo started the basketball season as a 6-foot-10 defender for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball team, with the ability to possibly help on the offensive end of the floor at times.
Midway through the 31-game regular season, he’s ahead of schedule.
Tuoyo is averaging 15.7 points, nine rebounds and 4.7 blocks in three Southern Conference games for the 9-7 Mocs. He’s currently the team’s leading scorer and rebounder against conference competition, and will certainly be a focal point of tonight’s opponent, Western Carolina.
“He’s been working harder and spending time after practice,” UTC coach Will Wade said. “We’ve been working with him, but he’s been putting in the time and it’s certainly showed. The game is starting to slow down for him, and he has a better pace in the post. By playing with much better pace, he’s able to score more.”
By having sat out last season after transferring to VCU, Tuoyo has been away from actual game competition since March of 2013. The defensive skills haven’t gone anywhere, but it took a while for the offensive part of the game to catch up to his ability to be such a presence on the other end. He currently averages 9.7 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.2 blocks per game, and while the overall stats against The Citadel, Furman and Wofford are a sign of improvement, they pale in comparison to the major improvement at the free-throw line.