Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / UTC’s Josh Ayeni (21) battles for the tipoff with UNC Greensboro’s Mohammed Abdulsalam in Thursday night’s SoCon game at McKenzie Arena.Josh Ayeni has carved out a role on the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga basketball team that isn’t overly dependent on stats.
Sure, there have been games during the 6-foot-7, 215-pound graduate student’s second season with the Mocs when he has stood out with his scoring – an 18-point explosion against Mercer on Feb. 5, for instance – but Ayeni has always been content to play his role when it comes to sports.
The exception to that rule was when Ayeni was put in a role he did not like. Not on the basketball court in Chattanooga, but on the soccer pitch in Nigeria.
“Growing up, I was a midfielder and striker,” he said recently, “but my coach moved me to goalkeeper and I quit.
“I hated it there.”
Yet the aggression and passion that Ayeni plays with on the basketball court began to develop, at least in part, on that same soccer pitch. He recalled his coach making the team run “like 50 laps” around the field once a week.
“I feel like that mentally helped me as a person because everybody was tired and we had to keep going,” he said. “Ever since I did that, to this day, mentally I just feel like there’s nothing I can’t do. That’s something he instilled in me and everybody on our team: that we can do anything we want to do.”
What could have become of his soccer career had he not been moved to goalkeeper? When Ayeni is done with basketball, could he see himself playing for one of Chattanooga’s two professional soccer teams?
“I’m ready,” he said. “I think I’ve still got it. I’ll play with the team that wants to win.”
In the meantime, Ayeni has become one of the integral parts of the basketball Mocs, who are 40-14 since his arrival and remain one win away from clinching the top seed in the upcoming Southern Conference tournament after losing 73-70 to UNC Greensboro on Thursday night at McKenzie Arena.
UTC (22-6, 12-3) trailed by 12 in the second half before David Jean-Baptiste’s 3-pointer drew the Mocs even at 70 with 32 seconds to play. Kobe Langley made a 3 for the Spartans (16-11, 8-7) with four seconds left, though, and he was also credited with a steal that stopped the Mocs’ ensuing possession.
Jean-Baptiste led the Mocs with 24 points and was joined in double figures by teammates Malachi Smith (16) and Darius Banks (11).
UTC hosts Virginia Military Institute at 4 p.m. Saturday. If Furman loses earlier in the day to Wofford and UTC beats the Keydets, the Mocs would win the SoCon regular-season title outright.
It would no doubt be a happy moment for Ayeni.
What some people perceive as anger from him is actually more passion. That scowl he sometimes sports during a game will be quick to change into a big smile when he sees one of his teammates do well. He “wants to win,” and while all of the Mocs undoubtedly want to reach the NCAA tournament, Ayeni’s motivation is unique.
He started 40 of the 56 games he played in two years at St. Bonaventure, and although the Bonnies earned an at-large bid to the 68-team tourney in 2018, an ACL tear right before the postseason cost him a chance to play.
Even at UTC, Ayeni is part of a three-headed monster on the interior with fellow seniors Silvio De Sousa and Avery Diggs. It could have been a situation that hurt his pride, with the platoon leading to Ayeni making just five starts this season compared to 17 last year, but it’s been about what’s been best for the team – and each member of the trio has flourished at times this season, with each having scored at least 18 points in one game.
A physical player, Ayeni is at his best as an interior defender who has stayed on the court due to his ability on that end. But his mentality of doing whatever it takes for the team to succeed can occasionally bleed into the scoring column, evidenced by games like the home win against Mercer two weeks ago.
“I said something to him after the game, after the handshake line,” UTC coach Lamont Paris said after that game. “He said, ‘I want to win, man.’ That’s a direct quote, and that’s the one thing I’ve never, ever, ever questioned with Josh. He is a competitive guy, so much sometimes he gets himself into some foul situations, but he is a competitive guy, so it was fun to watch him flourishing on the offensive side of the ball as opposed to just normally his main role which is to get out there, defend and rebound.
“My real enjoyment is to see a guy flourishing like that.”
Ayeni, who turns 26 on March 30 and is the oldest player in college basketball, didn’t start playing the sport until he was 14. He showed enough potential to get an opportunity to move to St. Frances Academy in Baltimore, which led to a postgraduate opportunity at Impact Academy in Sarasota, Florida. Then came his stint at St. Bonaventure and a year at South Alabama before his time with the Mocs.
Along the way, he developed a desire to succeed that is accompanied by a demeanor that could be taken the wrong way.
He’s aware of that, but for him it’s about the end goal.
“I do think a lot of people misinterpret that, and shout-out to Coach,” Ayeni said of Paris. “He understands that I’m not trying to come across that way, it’s just that I’ve got a lot of passion. I just want to win – like, I just want to win. I take pride in anything I do.
“I just want to win.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.