Monday, June 3, 2013

Meet Kentan Facey

Kentan Facey is a 6’8” and 210 pound Power Forward from Glen Head, New York.  He is long, athletic, has a quick bounce, and can run the floor well.  He averaged 14.5 points, 12.2 rebounds, and 3.8 blocks per game.  He is a bit raw offensively, needs to position himself better defensively, but under the proper tutelage of Kevin Ollie, Facey should be another impact-full UConn big man in the next couple of years.

Kentan grew up in Jamaica, playing mostly soccer and cricket and didn’t start playing basketball until he was 15 years old.  He has a tremendous work ethic mostly due to his family upbringing.  He grew up on a farm and is very humble.  He plans to study engineering and has strong academic skills.

"It's hard. Just picking up the terminology and what we were trying to do. He's a great kid. He is very smart and he is starting to understand the game a lot better," said his coach John Buck at Long Island Lutheran.

"He has just got a relentless motor," Ollie says. "He loves the game and it shows every time you see him out on the court. The energy he exudes, playing with passion, running and diving and talking, everything you want in a big. He has an upside on the offensive end. If he comes in and works on his body and gets bigger, he can make some money playing basketball after he's done playing here."

Jim Calhoun first spotted Facey and thought he had NBA potential and since then UConn has kept in contact with his family in Jamaica.  Hartford has a huge Jamaican population and he should have a ton of local support and could be a mentor for the youth in the area.  He should fit in nicely and mold into a solid big man for UConn by the end of the year.

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