Freshman guard Dexter Akanno will redshirt the 2019-’20 season, head men’s basketball coach Steve Wojciechowski announced Tuesday.
“For me philosophy-wise, you only redshirt a guy that you believe can be a long-term impact player,” Wojciechowski said. “Dexter’s going to be a hell of a basketball player at Marquette.”
A prominent recruiting site, 247Sports, ranked Akanno as the No. 42 combo guard in the country and as ninth best player in New Jersey. The Valencia, California, native chose Marquette over New Mexico, Virginia Tech, Northeastern, Santa Clara, University of Texas and University of Southern California.
“We have three guys in Koby, Markus and Sacar who have a combined 13 years of college experience. They’re going to play a lot,” Wojciechowski said. “The way our backcourt numbers are, I want Dexter to be a guy we count on heavily when he is ready to do that.”
The 6-foot-4 guard played at Blair Academy last season, leading the team to a Mid-Atlantic Prep League title. At Valencia High School in 2017-’18 he averaged 15 points, 4 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game, helping the Vikings reach the semifinals of the California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section Division 2A playoffs. Akanno was named to the All-Santa Clara Valley First Team.
“Redshirting gives him and us the best chance to maximize his impact on our program, which I think will be huge,” Wojciechowski said.
