ARLINGTON – Coming off a season in which he emerged as arguably the most athletic player in the Sun Belt Conference, new UT Arlington head men's basketball coach Greg Young has awarded rising redshirt junior Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu with a full scholarship.
 
Akobundu-Ehiogu spent his first season with the Mavericks last year as a walk-on, but after being cleared in mid-December the uber-athletic 6-9 forward made his presence felt.
 
The Lagos, Nigeria, native ended up leading the Sun Belt in league games with 3.2 blocks per game. For the full season, he averaged 3.3 blocks, which would have ranked 3rd in the nation if he qualified (had to appear in 75 percent of UTA's games; he played in 69 percent).
 
Despite only playing in 18 games, Akobundu-Ehiogu's 60 blocks were the 3rd-most in single-season program history and ranked as the 18th-most in the nation. He had five games of 5+ blocks; no one else in program history has even had four such games for their careers.
 
Akobundu-Ehiogu registered his first-career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds at Louisiana (Feb. 22), grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds against Little Rock (Jan. 22) and recorded a career-best seven blocks on Jan. 15 against Louisiana. The rebound and block totals were both the most recorded in a game by any walk-on in the country.


 
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