The Alaska men's basketball team added its second Greek-born player this week in 6-5 shooting guard Ioannis Lekakis, assistant coach Eric Stang announced.
“I expect Ioannis to come in and be a reliable outside threat for us. He's a very good-sized shooting guard with good athleticism and basketball knowledge,” Stang said. “He's also a consistent spot up shooter, which is something we didn't have at times this year.”
Lekakis is in the process of transferring from Florida State College after submitting his National Letter of Intent to Alaska this week. He shot 35 percent from the field in his first season with the Stars in 2009-10 and 31 percent this past season.
What drew Stang and former head coach Clemon Johnson to Lekakis wasn't his scoring, however. It was his size and what it can do for the Nanooks' defense.
“Defensively, he'll allow us to be physically tougher and bigger, and we'll be able to put big, athletic lineups on the floor,” Stang said.
Off the court, Lekakis was named to the academic honor roll at Florida State College in his first year of play. He will work toward a degree in business administration at Alaska.
He joins Nikos Stathopoulos as the second native of Athens, Greece, to join the squad for 2011-12. So far, the Nanooks are up to four signings with more recruiting in the works.
