The independent student newspaper of Northeastern University

The Huntington News

The independent student newspaper of Northeastern University

The Huntington News

The independent student newspaper of Northeastern University

The Huntington News

Men’s Basketball: Adako making presence felt

By Andrew Parente

Coming into this year’s basketball season, the Huskies were eager to establish a scoring threat down low in order to open up the game for the perimeter shooting of leading scorer Matt Janning.

Now at 5-0 in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) and 10-5 overall, the team has found that threat in the form of junior forward Manny Adako.

Adako has been a catalyst for the offense in CAA play thus far, as well as getting it done on the defensive side.

‘ I think he’s one of the big reasons why we are 5-0,’ said head coach Bill Coen. ‘ Just to have that post presence and be able to play off the post helps our perimeter players get better shots. The more effective he is, it’s kind of like a trickle down effect for everybody else on the court.’

In the five CAA wins this year, Adako has averaged 16.4 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. He is also shooting 74.5 percent from the field, which is third best in the conference.

This past week in wins against Hofstra, Georgia State and Towson, Adako averaged 17.7 points and 5.7 rebounds while shooting at a rate of 71.4 percent from the field. This was good enough to earn him CAA player of the week honors.

Adako, who grew up outside Atlanta in Decatur, Ga. was excited to get a win against the Panthers in his homecoming game

‘ That was great [to get that win], playing in front of family,’ said Adako, who scored 13 points in that contest. ‘ Everybody pitched in. We had four people in double digits, everybody did what they were supposed to do and hit shots.’

In his first year with the Huskies, Adako averaged just 5.3 points a game, but doubled that average to 10.6 his following year.

Coen said he was pleased with his progression and he has made himself into one of the better front-court players in the CAA.

‘ Manny came here with a knack to score the basketball and I think he’s improved in that area each and every year,’ Coen said. ‘ His shot selection gets better; his range gets better as does his basketball IQ.’

With his point totals rising game after game, Adako has become a difficult player to defend because of his ability to hit from various spots on the court.

‘ He’s got a tremendous ability to score from almost any angle,’ Coen said. ‘ Some guys can only score if they get to their sweet spot but Manny can score out of the corner, he can score straight on, he can score right in the low post, which is very difficult to do because of the physicality of the game.’

In the Huskies’ most recent game against Towson, Adako scored a career-high 24 points while pulling down a career-high 12 rebounds for his second career double-double.

Despite his strong effort, Adako was quick to credit his teammates and said he knows the scoring can come from them on any day.

‘It can be anybody on any given night,’ Adako said after the Towson game. ‘ The next game it can be Matt Smith again or Eugene [Spates], we’re just here to win. We’ve been here long enough and we know how it feels to lose, so we don’t care how it gets done, we just want to handle business.’

Off the court, Coen said Adako is one of the most likeable guys on the team and that it’s tough for anybody not to like him.

‘He’s a great kid, he’s a tremendous human being and he cares deeply about his teammates, his family and everybody he’s close with,’ Coen said. ‘ He’s got a tremendous sense of loyalty and commitment to all his personal relationships. I think he’s a complex young man who loves Northeastern and who loves being on this team.’

As the Huskies begin a stretch of four out of five games on the road, Coen said he believes Adako can continue to be successful and that it is important for him to do so in order to help the team win.

‘He’s the controlling factor,’ Coen said. ‘ I think when he comes ready and focused he can compete against any player in this league and if he does that, it will increase our chances of being successful.’

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