UConn Men’s Basketball Officially Releases 2018 PG James Akinjo From NLI

Class of 2018 point guard and top-100 recruit James Akinjo has officially been released from his National Letter of Intent to UConn, according to his aunt on Twitter. The de-commitment comes as no surprise as the Richmond, CA native cited former head coach Kevin Ollie as one of the top reasons he picked the Huskies over the likes of Iowa State, Virginia, Maryland and Cal.

“I can’t even explain it,” Akinjo told the Hartford Courant. “When I was on my visit, it was like I felt him, I felt where he was coming from, I believed everything he was saying. Him just being a guard, coming from West Coast to East Coast, coming from the trenches like I come from, I know he completely understands. So it was just a good relationship from the jump.”

UConn’s class of 2018 is now down to Emmitt Matthews, a 3-star wing from Tacoma, WA and Lukas Kisunas, a center from Lithuania via Brewster Academy. Adam Zagoria reports that Kisunas will make his decision whether to stay after meeting with the new coach. Matthews’ status is still unclear.

With Akinjo’s departure, the Huskies now have one open scholarship for next season giving the new coach a small bit of roster flexibility. There’s still a chance Akinjo could be recruited back to UConn, although that seems unlikely at this point.

Next season, the Huskies are projected to have Jalen Adams, Christian Vital and Alterique Gilbert at guard although the latter’s injury history should make the position a priority for the final roster spot — assuming there are no other departures.

Here’s a look at the scholarship situation going forward: