Meet Ike Iroegbu: He is DaVonté Lacy’s replacement

The Sacramento 24 Hour Fitness was a tornado of Iroegbus. Eldest brother Chukwuemeka “Chuks,” middle brother Ikenna “Ike,” and Uchenna, the youngest, zipped around a non-regulation court that was too small for their speed, forcing them to get used to arriving at the rim at a dead sprint.

The experience racing up and down those tiny courts produced Ike Iroegbu’s game, which is perfectly suited to the fast-break approach favored by Washington State coach Ernie Kent.

“Both my brothers are really athletic,” Ireogbu said. “When we would go to the gym it would just be us three on the same team. We’d want to go out and just speed down the court and get layups and dunks and stuff.”

Iroegbu’s prodigious speed with the ball in his hands gets him to the rim in a hurry – 42.2 percent of his field-goal attempts came at the rim last season, leading all the team’s guards by a sizable margin. He’s still learning how to play with his speed, though.

Iroegbu struggled to finish those shots at the rim at times last season, shooting just 48.8 percent on such attempts. To that end, he put on significant muscle mass this offseason to better absorb contact in the lane and become the go-to transition scorer the Cougars had in DaVonté Lacy.