Point guard James Akinjo, Arizona softball and baseball teams earn latest Daily Wildcat weekly awards

Arizona point guard James Akinjo dribbles past Arizona State’s Marcus Bagley on Monday, Jan. 25, 2021, in McKale Center in Tucson, Ariz. The Wildcats went on to win 80-67. (Courtesy of Mike Christy/Arizona Athletics)

Patrick Carr

Two teams earned this week’s “Daily Wildcat Team of the Week” award as both the Arizona baseball team and softball team put on a show. The Arizona baseball team pulled off an impressive four-game sweep over Southeastern Louisiana and ended the weekend in dominant fashion with a 14-2 win.

Over the course of the four games, Arizona finished with a 28-19 run advantage and kept all four of the games out of extra innings. The third game of the series was the one that kept everyone on the edge of their seats as the Wildcats were down 3-0 heading into the seventh inning but pulled off a classic late-game rally with four runs of their own. After this four-game win streak, Arizona improved their overall record to 6-2.

The Arizona softball team is currently on a 10-game win streak to start the season and has yet to lose a game. They walked off in this 10th straight win against Oregon State when a base-hit from Hanah Bowen singled advanced Allie Skaggs to home plate for the walk-off winning run.

 

 

Senior Alyssa Denham also earned her team-high fourth win of the season with this closing performance. The Wildcats will travel to South Florida for back-to-back games against USF.

RELATED: Arizona baseball team completes series sweep of Southeastern Louisiana

Player of the Week

The Arizona men’s basketball team is currently on a three-game winning streak, thanks in part to point guard James Akinjo. Akinjo is pushing for a first or second team slot on the all conference team and this week may have helped his case even more.

 

 

In Thursday’s win over Washington State, Akinjo led the game in scoring and steals, with an overall statline of 19 points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals. Akinjo did all these on efficient 6-14 from the field overall and 2-4 from deep over the course of 36 tough minutes.

To sweep the Washington schools, Arizona had to pull out a last-second win and Akinjo was a huge part of it. He had 26 points on 7-17 from the field and an impressive 5-8 from beyond the arc with many of those shots coming at crucial moments in the second half. He also piled on three rebounds, two steals and seven assists, including the game-winning assist to freshman Azuolas Tubelis in the left corner with 5.6 seconds left. Be on the lookout for Akinjo’s name in some postseason awards lists.


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