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PUTNAM — It’s been well documented this year the success of freshmen Alexis Yetna at the University of South Florida. The former Putnam Science Academy Mustang made a ton of noise this past season with his play on the court and the match-ups against UConn in the American Conference.
Jeff Jacobs, a sports writer for the Connecticut Post, wrote in-length earlier this year about how Yetna was right in UConn’s backyard and how they missed out on the lengthy forward.
It turned out being a huge oversight that now head coach at UConn Dan Hurley more than likely wishes he had on his team.
Alexis Yetna went on to tally a total of 346 rebounds this past season for the Bulls while taking home Freshmen of the Year in the Conference along with making the All-American First team at forward. Yetna started his freshmen campaign with a bang posting an 11 point, 17 rebound performance against Georgetown in just the 4th game of the year. Yetna followed that up with an 18 point, 18 rebound game against Stetson that propelled the freshmen to win the AAC Freshmen of the Week award twice.
Jacobs bragged about Yetna’s play at the start of the season saying, “Through 12 games of nonconference play, Yetna is the only player in the American Conference averaging a double-double (11.8 points, 10.9 rebounds). Jacobs went on to add, “He is averaging 2.5 rebounds a game more than any player in the conference while also averaging five more rebounds a game than UConn’s leader, guard Christian Vital, and six more than any of the Huskies’ bigs.”
Yetna, with those 346 total rebounds, demolished records this past season in the white and green grabbing the most rebounds by a freshman in a single season in school history and finished second in rebounds in general for South Florida. The 346 rebounds were also the second most rebounds by a freshman in the NCAA this past season.
Alexis Yetna with his size and length was always great at crashing the boards on the offensive and defensive glass but it was his motor and relentless energy that stood out, according to PSA Head Boys Prep Coach Tom Espinosa: “I’ve never coached a kid like that before. His motor on the court was something we saw as a coaching staff day one.” That motor helped Yetna to an average of 9.6 rebounds per game this season which was the highest single season rebounding average by a freshman in the entire American Athletic Conference.
It wasn’t just UConn that missed out on the talented big, but the Bulls of South Florida will continue to trot out Yetna next year in the American Conference hoping Alexis can duplicate a historic freshmen season.
Josh Sanchas
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy