It's all starting to come together for Viktor Lakhin, and the University of Cincinnati redshirt freshman from Russia credits a lot of that to first-year Bearcats coach Wes Miller.
Eight games into his first season on the court at Cincinnati, Lakhin exploded for 13 points on 4-of-8 shooting and 11 rebounds in a 73-58 win over Bryant on Dec. 5.
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"It wasn't really an explosion," Lakhin told The Enquirer. "I just got my shots. We broke their zone defense a couple times and I made a couple shots from that. I like how Wes makes us play. He makes us play a team offense. So sometimes I make the shots, Dave (senior guard David DeJulius) makes them or somebody else. But it wasn't really an explosion. I didn't like how I played, but it's my career high for right now."
Maybe "exploded" isn't the right word, but it was Lakhin's most productive performance in a Cincinnati uniform.
After also adding a couple steals in 24 minutes off the bench in the breakout effort, Lakhin earned American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Week honors.
"I'm so proud of Vik," Miller said. "I probably coach him as hard as I coach anybody on our team every day. I mean, I'm all over him. I think he's his harshest critic except for me. I'm probably the harshest critic and he's his second-harshest critic, and I think that's because I really believe he can be special. I think he has really, really special gifts and I think he's got the right stuff inside of him to become a great player. ... I think he's just scratching the surface."
Lakhin's double-double sent a jolt of excitement through Miller and everyone else inside Fifth Third Arena. It also signaled the end of one chapter and the beginning of another for the 6-foot-11, 245-pound Anapa, Russia, native.
A product of CSKA Moscow’s youth program, Lakhin averaged 9.8 points and seven rebounds while shooting 47.2 percent from the field en route to leading the Russians to a sixth-place finish at the 2019 FIBA Under 18 European Championship.
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Lakhin then committed to former UC coach John Brannen and the Bearcats in June 2020 over offers from Colorado, Colorado State, Ole Miss, St. John’s, Utah State, Wake Forest and others. But a knee injury kept Lakhin off the court and on the sideline in his first season at Cincinnati.
"It was difficult to make adjustments just in regular life, not talking about basketball," Lakhin said of his first year in the United States. "Basketball was the easy part because I had already played it. It's what I live for. I don't feel any stress or anything. But about life, it's so difficult to make all these adjustments to be a teammate in the locker room, just to talk to everybody, continue conversations and be with everybody. It was so difficult, especially with me being from Russia. It's two different countries."
In addition to the language barrier, Lakhin said he felt a complete culture shock when he first touched down in the Midwest.
"The people, the people are different," he said. "No worse or better, just different. When I first got here, everyone said hello to me and didn't know me and I didn't know them. It was kind of weird. Everyone was super nice and didn't know me. I was like, 'What? Why are you talking to me? I don't know you. I don't even know your name. You probably know mine but ...' I don't really like those conversations when it just happens. But now, those adjustments that I've made, this is part of it. I've already gotten used to it and I've started talking to people like that."
To make his transition tougher, Lakhin watched as the only structure he knew since moving to the United States crumbled around him.
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Ten months after Lakhin delivered his commitment to Cincinnati, Brannen was fired and Miller was hired. All of a sudden, Lakhin had a new head coach, a new coaching staff and a team full of mostly new faces.
"The players last year, we had great chemistry. We were all together," Lakhin said. "But it was just something ... I don't even know how to say it. It was just something. We didn't feel right. And it wasn't all about Coach (Brannen). It was a COVID year. I don't know the exact reason. It might not be only one. But we had great chemistry. Just something wasn't right. ... And now, a couple guys, who had already been together, stayed here. Coach (Miller) brought his new guys. They were new guys to us, but he was already convinced that they were good players and good teammates, so he brought them and just built it up even more."
Lakhin said the result has been a "close" team that is selfless and only wants to win. Lakhin said that's in large part to Miller. Lakhin also credited Miller for bringing the most out of him.
"Coach really yells at me every time in practice. He's on me on every play and every detail," he said. "If he doesn't like how I do it, he just tries to fix it right after so I don't convert it to bigger mistakes eventually. And I like that in him. I'm hard on myself too. So I ask him to be even harder on me. I feel the pressure in practice, so when I go into the game, I don't feel any pressure. I just release and play my game."
In his first eight games at Cincinnati, Lakhin is averaging 7.3 points and 5.8 rebounds. Lakhin said Miller has worked closely with him on his footwork, his ball-handling and becoming more of a dominant and patient presence on the defensive end.
"I didn't play for two years, but the player that I was when I got here compared to where I am now, it's a big difference," he said. "(Miller) fixed so much of my little mistakes. I played basketball at a high level, and now, he's just trying to help me in the little details because I think he understands that I can play and all he's trying to do is help us."
Miller said if Lakhin stays healthy and continues to develop, he'll "be a terrific player at Cincinnati."
"He's getting better at the little things that drive coaches crazy," Miller said. "Again, he's a freshman in a lot of ways. Not that he hasn't played experienced basketball, because he played at a high level in Europe. He's a freshman in that he does a lot of the things that drive coaches crazy: sprinting back, not sprinting back and communicating in transition or taking a little break or messing with the ball when he shouldn't. That type of thing. And he's getting better at those little things that I've been harping on him about. So it's good to see him have some success."
Miller said he loves Lakhin's "hilarious dry humor." Miller also loves Lakhin's improvements on the court. Lakhin's teammates also see the steps he's taken in such a short period of time.
"He's getting more comfortable, not only on the court but off the court," DeJulius said. "You can just see it in his demeanor. And his confidence level's going up. If he just continues to stay on that trajectory, the sky's the limit for him."
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