CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Josh Okogie is all about his #goals.
Before he ever stepped foot onto the floor at Georgia Tech, the 6-4 guard set out to do three things:
1. Average at least 10 points per game.
2. Make the ACC's all-freshman team
3. Be named to the conference's all-academic squad.
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Last season he went 3 for 3. He led the Yellow Jackets in scoring, putting up 16.1 points a night on 45.3 percent shooting, including 38.4 from 3-point range. He was tapped for the league's all-freshman team, along with 2017 NBA lottery picks Dennis Smith Jr. (N.C. State), Jayson Tatum (Duke) and Jonathan Issac (Florida State). The business administration student earned all-academic honors by posting at least a 3.0 GPA at an institution known for its rigorous scholastic demands.
Now in 2017, the three-star recruit who didn't crack the starting lineup of his Shiloh High School (Ga.) varsity until he was a senior won't take anyone by surprise.
"It felt really good just knowing that the hard work that put in paid off," said Okogie, a second-team preseason All-ACC choice. "It's also a credit to my teammates always being there for me during the ups and downs."
Okogie's reserved resolve suits him.
His presence at the table on ACC Media Day didn't command a throng of reporters like that of Theo Pinson of defending national champion North Carolina, or of Duke senior Grayson Allen. He wasn't a McDonald's All-American like them, but Okogie knew he belonged.
It's something he realized after the first half of the Yellow Jackets' conference opener against No. 9 UNC on New Year's Eve. Georgia Tech pulled off the upset, downing the Tar Heels 75-63 at home. But it wasn't the win that encouraged a lanky kid from Snellville, Ga., he could play in the most competitive league in the country. It was his play. He finished with 26 points on 7-for-14 shooting from the field to go with five rebounds and three assists.
"It was just being on the court, just comfortable," Okogie said. "Obviously, being a freshmen you have a lot of energy and pregame jitters, but after halftime I was just comfortable. I was like, 'I see myself being on the court with these guys.' After that game, everything was pretty normal to me."
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Georgia Tech senior center Ben Lammers typically reserves judgment on freshmen, no matter how insanely athletic or hard-working they are, until game time comes.
"There are some guys who look amazing in practice, then they play a game and they just absolutely stink," said Lammers, last season's ACC Defensive Player of the Year. "You never quite know how it works out, but he's interesting because he's amazing in practice and he's even better in the game."
Okogie has also earned the respect of his opponents. Florida State captain Terance Mann listed the native Nigerian among the toughest players in the league to guard. He would know first-hand: Okogie hung an ACC career-high 35 points in a blowout upset of the Seminoles on Jan. 25.
"He just can score. He can get to the basket kind of whenever he wants," Mann said. "That's what's tough about him. It's hard to stop a dude who can get to to the basket whenever he wants. If you stop that, if you happened to stop that, he's got a jump shot along with it."
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With a new season comes new aspirations for Okogie. He said he wants to make the all-academic team again, lead his team in scoring, increase his scoring output, flip his assists-to-turnover ratio (last year's was a not-so-impressive 1.6:2.1) and have more than the 1.3 steals per game he averaged in 2016-17. All this, in an effort to help the Yellow Jackets reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time in six seasons.
All of that is part of an even bigger goal.
"The ultimate goal, for me, is to play at the next level. I kind of try to set goals where I can track my progression like, 'What does it take to get there?'" Okogie said. "I kind of knew, if I average 20 points at any point or over 20 at any point in my career, it would kind of make it easier for me to go to the next level."