Oso Ighodaro steps up to help Suns win first NBA Cup game

The Suns have been applauded for last summer’s NBA Draft success early this season. People are quick to note the defensive potential of first-round pick Ryan Dunn, who had NBA scouts on alert when he was at Virginia. The knock on him was his poor shooting numbers in college, which hasn’t been nearly the case thus far. Dunn is shooting an impressive 39.5% from behind the arc on 1.5 makes per game. game. Had NBA teams known he could shoot that well, he would have been drafted much higher.

Dunn’s skill has made people forget that he wasn’t the only one Phoenix picked last summer. The Suns drafted Marquette big man Oso Ighodaro with the No. 1 overall pick. 40 in the second round. Ighodaro was a bit of a late bloomer in college but was able to showcase his well-rounded skills which caught the attention of the Sun. He averaged over 13 points, seven rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block per game in his senior season.

Earlier this week, Ighodaro stepped up when Jusuf Nurkic was out with an ankle injury. He scored six points, grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked two shots in the Suns’ first NBA Cup win over the Utah Jazz. He was a key factor on the boards and was able to tip loose balls to his teammates to keep possessions alive. He served primarily as a screener on the offensive end and helped get Phoenix’s guards to drive lanes to the rim.

On a team with Kevin Durant (currently out with a calf strain), Devin Booker and Bradley Beal, the Suns don’t need much extra scoring, but role players who excel in other facets of the game. Ighodaro will continue to serve in a more traditional big man role early in his career by rebounding, protecting the rim and setting good screens. If he can do this at a high level and earn more trust from the coaching staff, Ighodaro has another level of playmaking ability he could tap into when given the chance, as he showed at Marquette.

Phoenix made backup big man a priority this offseason and have found two of them in Ighodaro and Mason Plumlee. Ighodaro gives the Suns a reliable big capable of stepping in and playing big minutes when needed. If he can build on this performance, more minutes could be on the way for him.

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