Nebraska Basketball: Nana Akenten suspension a big hit to depth of team

Nebraska Basketball will certainly miss Akenten’s contributions.

Nebraska basketball will be down a man for the rest of the season, and the player in question has contributed quite a bit. On Thursday, head coach Tim Miles announced that sophomore forward Nana Akenten would be suspended from the team indefinitely.

Akenten has proven to be a very effective player for Nebraska basketball. Measuring in at six-foot-six, he has averaged 6.6 points per game this season coming off the bench. In addition, he has started two contests.

In speaking to the media on Thursday ($), Miles said that he could not elaborate on what the suspension details were. However, the suspension will last for at least the remainder of the season. This is certainly an unfortunate development for the Nebraska basketball program.

"“I really can’t get into more than that other than, I wouldn’t have done it unless, one, it was the right thing to do, and two, it hopefully can be a learning experience for Nana,” Miles said. “So he’ll be away from the team. He’ll be at the study table working on everything. … But we are a man down that way."

What does this mean for Nebraska basketball moving forward? For one, this is an additional hit to their depth. This has not been an easy season for Nebraska basketball, and finding a secondary scorer has been difficult at times. Akenten was able to do that coming off the bench and with the injury to Issac Copeland, Akenten’s contributions were certainly appreciated. Now, the team heads into their contest against Iowa on Sunday missing that key spark from the bench. A player such as Tanner Borchardt could be a candidate to fill the scoring void. He has been playing better as of late.

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Depending on the severity of the infraction, it will be interesting to see what Akenten can do next season. Evidently, the first thing he has to do is step back from the Nebraska basketball team and be able to assess his mindset moving forward. Hopefully he can get to a place where he is able to contribute to this basketball team again. I applaud Miles for being able to take a stand and doing what is right without trying to protect the basketball program.

There are many bumps along the road during a course of the season, and this news would certainly be considered one of them. Nebraska basketball now has to keep moving forward as they face a tough Iowa team in the regular season finale. Hopefully they can win, and ride momentum heading into the Big 10 tournament next week

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