The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Tosin Mehinti: Blazer Forward Progressing In Sophomore Season
12/16/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Steve Irvine, UABSports.com
It’s easy to assume that the college basketball lessons came one game at a time during Tosin Mehinti’s first season at UAB. A more accurate description, however, would be the lessons came one drill, one rep and one scrimmage at a time.
Mehinti arrived in Birmingham as a raw but talented 6-foot-9, 213-pound center/power forward. Each day in practice, he matched up with 6-foot-10, 260-pound Fahro Alihodzic, who put on 30 pounds during his final season and was concluding his college eligibility. The things he learned from that matchup – as well as other parts of practice – were every bit as beneficial as the 12.7 minutes per game of action he received in 31 appearances.
“One of the biggest adjustments that freshmen have to make – and you see it with the freshmen we have this year – is the physicality and speed of the game at this level,” said UAB associate head coach Jeff Wulbrun. “From a physicality standpoint, I think Tosin got a crash course last year banging up against Foz day in and day out. As a defender, Tosin couldn’t just sit behind, he had to be active, he had to get off the offensive player and reestablish defensive position every time the ball moved. We kind of thought if he could do it up against Foz, who was 260, he could do it against anybody we played. I think that helped him a lot.”
Mehinti agreed that the work against his former teammate helped him progress as a player.
“It just made me tougher, pretty much, and kind of gave me a heads up on what to expect the next year and what kind of shoes I would be filling,” Mehinti said. “It was like a learning experience for me.”
Numbers are one way to chart his improvement. Mehinti averaged 2.9 points and 3.4 rebounds per game and had 35 blocked shots in 31 games as a freshman. He scored in double figures just once – 10 points at Middle Tennessee – and had season best 10 rebounds in the regular season opener against Columbus State.
Thus far this season, Mehinti is averaging 7.6 points and 4.0 rebounds and has 19 blocked shots in 10 games. He opened the year with his first career double-double – 15 points and 10 rebounds – against Louisiana Monroe and reached double digits in scoring two other times.
“Right now, I’d say I’m more experienced, I know a lot more about the game, and I’m more physical,” said Mehinti, who has added 20 to 25 pounds. “Last year, I wasn’t really physical. I could jump and all that but I wasn’t really physical. I got better, like my offensive skills got better, and defensively I’m better because I can guard the post more. Last year, they just pushed me around, this year they can’t do that.”
One of the best things about Mehinti is his room to grow as a player. He’s still a relative novice after playing soccer for much of his youth in Lagos, Nigeria. Mehinti watched older brother play basketball when he was young but for Tosin is was soccer “all day, every day.”
Mehinti was intrigued by basketball and played in pickup games with his brother and others older than him. Tosin was generally picked to play because of his size and athletic ability and one more thing.
“I could jump higher than everybody else and everybody saw it as an advantage,” Mehinti said.
His brother considered coming to the United States to play basketball when he was in high school but a knee injury curtailed his plans. At the urging of a friend, Tosin came to the U.S. for a camp as a 16-year-old in 2011. The next year, the friend convinced him to return to the U.S. and enroll at Greenforest McCalep Christian Academy in Lithonia, Georgia. Tosin jumped at the opportunity.
He fought off some immediate homesickness but also had some other adjustments.
“The time difference kind of messed with me,” Mehinti said. “I’d just be up all night. I’d fall asleep at 7 o’clock, I’d wake up at 3 and just stay up all night. It was fun, actually, the (overall) transition.”
Mehinti was forced to play on the junior varsity team in his first year because Georgia High School rules mandate a player can’t have immediate varsity eligibility after transferring. The next year, though, Mehinti led his team to a 27-4 record and a state championship. He recorded the first triple-double – 12 points, 17 rebounds and 10 blocked shots – in school history and then did it twice more.
His recruitment began during AAU playing before his senior year and blew up during the season. Schools throughout the country offered scholarships but good penmanship helped UAB head coach Jerod Haase and his coaching staff land the talented Mehinti.
“UAB, they sent me the most letters,” Mehinti said with a laugh. “It was like a letter every day, sometimes two letters a day. I just felt more comfortable in the environment and the system. They like to run and that’s what I like to do. It was closer to Atlanta, where my host family lives. I can go back home when I want to, just two hours away. They can come watch me play. And the family environment I felt when I visited here, I liked that.”
The coaching staff is enjoying watch Mehinti progress as a player. Wulbrun said Mehinti has already established himself as one of the top shot blockers in Conference USA. But he’s done more than that. He is a dependable shooter up to 15 feet from the basket and is developing his overall offensive game.
“Tosin has really improved in the year and a half since he’s been here,” Wulbrun said. “He’s been extremely coachable, he takes the suggestions you talk about to heart, he’s an intelligent kid, he’s learned from experience, he’s learned watching tape, he tries to do what you want him to do. I think his instincts have improved and he’s more aggressive and decisive. You’re seeing a much more confident player this year.”
In this case, the added confidence has lead to added success.
