How Cincinnati basketball big man Viktor Lakhin found solace on and off the court

Posted by Mittie Cheatwood on Sunday, June 2, 2024

CINCINNATI — Viktor Lakhin shuffled into the Fifth Third Arena media room on Nov. 29, sheepishly ducking his 6-foot-11 body through the door frame and taking a seat on the dais. Cincinnati recently had returned from a Thanksgiving-week run in the Maui Jim Maui Invitational in Hawaii, during which the Bearcats struggled but Lakhin played well.

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“We talk about Maui? I am prepared,” Lakhin said into the microphone in a thick, Russian accent. He then donned a pair of Maui Jim-brand sunglasses each player was gifted from the tournament, along with a black-and-red lei and bucket hat. “We better talk about Maui now.”

It was a brief, entertaining glimpse into Lakhin’s amusing personality, one the international big man has offered snippets of on social media despite generally being more reserved around the media. A week in Maui helped tear down some of those walls. Cincinnati went 1-2 on the trip, but Lahkin shined, averaging 13.7 points and 69 percent from the field in the three games, including 17 points against an Arizona team that is currently ranked in the top 10. It was his first time scoring in double-digits in consecutive games in a Bearcats uniform.

“I’m always confident in myself,” said Lakhin, sporting his island ensemble for the entire interview, “but I’m definitely feeling better and better on the court.”

A couple of months removed, the Maui experience still resonates as a seminal one for Lakhin. He has started all 21 games this season, averaging 12.6 points on 63 percent shooting and a team-high 7.5 rebounds in 23.3 minutes. In the 14 games since Cincinnati returned from Maui, those numbers are up to 13.4 points on 61 percent, 7.9 rebounds, 1.4 steals and 1.3 blocks in 25.6 minutes.

“It happened for me after Maui,” Lakhin said recently. “In Maui, we played high-level teams, and I showed myself on a big stage, and I felt confident. I wasn’t making some prayer shots. I showed what I can do, so I felt I had some value.”

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— Cincinnati Men’s Hoops (@GoBearcatsMBB) December 1, 2022

It has been an odyssey on multiple fronts for Lakhin to reach this point, starting with his commitment to the Bearcats in June 2020. Lakhin played for Russia in the 2019 FIBA Under 18 European Championship and was part of CSKA-2 Moscow, a notable Russian club team. That’s how he caught the eye of former UC assistant Sean Dwyer, who watched Lakhin at a tournament in Greece and recruited him under former head coach John Brannen. Getting the native of Anapa, Russia, to Cincinnati in the thick of the pandemic was quite the logistical undertaking; despite committing in June, Lakhin didn’t make it stateside until September, after which he had to quarantine.

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Once he was finally able to join the team, just weeks ahead of the 2020-21 season, the UC medical staff discovered he had a knee injury that required surgery and ultimately sidelined him the entire year. Then in April 2021, Brannen was fired and Wes Miller was hired. Cincinnati’s new head coach was familiar with Lakhin — Miller was actually at that same tournament in Greece where Dwyer scouted Lakhin — and re-offered Lakhin to stay on the team. Lakhin accepted, then promptly went back home to Russia for a few weeks and enjoyed a little too much home cooking.

“Coach Miller said he wanted to keep me. I went home, came back, and I think I might have changed his mind,” Lakhin said with a laugh. “I came back from Russia with like 15 percent body fat because I didn’t practice one day for like two months. I thought our summer prep would be, ‘OK, let’s get into shape.’ But we started working out hard (when I came back), and I was dying within 10 minutes. I’m sweating, throwing up. I gained like 10 pounds on a European vacation. I looked like (Nikola) Jokić, (Luka) Dončić, you know?”

Lakhin’s talent always has been obvious to those who have coached him, something Miller has talked about repeatedly. Bearcats fans finally got to witness it as well last season, yet only in flashes, like the nine points and eight rebounds Lakhin posted in an upset win over Illinois in Kansas City and the 13-and-11 double-double against Bryant a few weeks after, the latter earning him AAC Freshman of the Week honors.

“He’s terrific. He’s a freshman and does freshman stuff, but he also does stuff that you can’t teach and you can’t coach,” Miller said in Nov. 2021. “Boy, he’s going to be special. He’s just going to keep getting better and better.”

Overall, however, Lakhin suffered from his indulgent offseason and all the other issues and obstacles he encountered — many out of his control — since coming to Cincinnati. He battled numerous nagging injuries all of last season, missing three games due to injury and another for personal reasons in late February 2022 just days after Russia invaded Ukraine. He finished the year averaging 4.2 points and 3.5 rebounds in 10.9 minutes per game.

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Still, his redshirt freshman season marked an inflection point. He hadn’t yet turned a corner on the court, but he finally was starting to feel settled off it. Lakhin arrived in America able to type and understand English fairly well, but he wasn’t comfortable speaking it. The isolating pandemic restrictions didn’t help with that, either, but once he was able to get in more normal class and social settings and grew closer with his teammates, his grasp of the language flourished.

“My first year, I couldn’t really speak very well. It kind of stopped me from being around people. They couldn’t understand me, and I didn’t want to be that person to say one phrase three times,” Lakhin said. “Then I started to get closer and closer with my teammates. At first, it’s listening. In practice, I would be super focused on what the coaches were saying. And then talking. Mason (Madsen) and Mika (Adams-Woods) helped me with it because we would just have conversations about life and basketball. Talking to those two guys especially helped me a lot.”

Lakhin stayed in Cincinnati during the spring and summer in 2022 and finally had a true offseason for the first time in his college career. It paid off. Strength coach Mike Rehfeldt said Lakhin entered the semester at eight percent body fat, almost cut in half compared to when he returned from Russia the previous offseason.

“Being healthy is a huge thing. I want to say a huge thank you to (head athletic trainer) Bob Mangine and the medical staff who keep me healthy, as well as Coach Rehfeldt,” Lakhin said. “The benefit from that and experience that I’ve had personally, it really opened my eyes how much the summer does for you, the bag you develop for the season and the tools you can take out and use.”

The full expanse of that bag has been on display of late. It has been another up-and-down effort thus far for the Bearcats in Year 2 under Miller, but Lakhin’s burgeoning consistency has been a source of success and optimism. He’s already up to six double-doubles through 21 games, including 18 points and a career-best 15 rebounds in a win over Detroit Mercy in December, as well as a career-high 22 points to go with 10 boards in Sunday’s loss to Memphis.

“You’re just seeing the tip of the iceberg of what Vik is capable of,” Miller said after the Detroit victory. “I think Vik can play anywhere in the world. He has that within him. He has to continue to grow and develop to get that all out of him, but he’s improving at a rapid rate, and I think he’s just getting started.”

Lakhin’s (and Cincinnati’s) ability to unlock whatever remains submerged below sea level will be crucial for the Bearcats as the team continues its search for stability during the next two months and then gears up for the Big 12 hellfire that awaits next season. Some of that impact is already surfacing even beyond the statistical bumps in scoring and rebounding, like when Lakhin swatted a career-best eight blocked shots in a recent road win over SMU, with six coming in the second half. For a UC squad short on post depth and rim protection, Lakhin’s presence sealed a narrow 54-52 victory on a night when Cincinnati shot just 34 percent from the field.

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“Vik is so naturally gifted, he has such a great feel and IQ for the game, that a lot of his development on both ends of the floor is about getting him in the right position,” Miller said. “If you can get him in the right position and clean up his habits, then his instincts take over, and they’re really damn good. … He doesn’t just come out of nowhere and get eight blocks. He had that ability a long time ago. He’s just in a better position to do it now. He has better habits.”

All of it is part of an ongoing journey for Lakhin, one where he’s now confident in the trajectory and potential destination. As much as he’s focused on the remaining 10 regular season games and enjoying the benefits of a full offseason, Lakhin is already excited by what another one can do for his game. All the uncertainty of the past two years — new country, new coaches, new injuries — has made way for the possibilities that lie ahead, at Cincinnati and beyond.

“I definitely want to average a double-double, start shooting 3s, face up a little more, be able to guard multiple positions, start switching ball screens — I want to be more reliable in those situations. And all of that being said, I have to stay healthy. I want to keep playing and make it to an NBA level, but if I’m not healthy, no one will want me,” Lakhin said. “I always knew what I was capable of, but I got hurt. The question was if I could get it all back. I haven’t gotten it all back yet, but now I’m sure I can.”

(Photo: Dylan Buell / Getty Images)

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