Aikens toggled between playmaking for others and creating his own shot, giving the Cougars whatever their matchup called for. Against MOT, he used touch passes to drop the ball over the top of the defense and into the post for easy buckets. Then versus Avon Grove, he put on his scorer’s hat. The rising senior point guard urgently got to his spots and knocked down off-the-dribble jumpers. From there, he attacked the basket and got to the free throw line where he converted at a high clip.

In his breakout season for the Cougars, “Steals, Assists, and Threes” was the name of the game for Aikens. He made exciting plays as an off-ball defender with the way he would step in front of passes and initiate transition offense. More times than not, Aikens drove to set up others and he simply fed the post with entry passes or three darts to cutters. But when his squad was in need, he would dial up three-pointers to give them some juice.