SAN DIEGO – Maybe it’s his eyes. Maybe it’s his basketball IQ. Maybe it’s his anticipation skills.
Then again it could be all of it and more when it comes to the success of Ivan Kharchenkov.
Sure, he’s a jack – um, Ivan – of all trades on the basketball court. He’ll be asked to do it again on Sunday afternoon vs. Utah State in the NCAA tournament’s second round.
“He’s very unique,” said Ryan Hansen, who is the game analyst for KCUB 1290 and a longtime insider for UA basketball. “High IQ – initiator of offense – committed defender. He brings additional rugged toughness. People seem to leave him out when they describe our physicality. He’s definitely a contributor.”
Heck, he could be the centerpiece of that. Some have even nicknamed him the German army knife – meaning he can do everything.
Want a steal? Ivan
Want a rebound? Ivan.
Want a bucket? Ivan, who has gotten better with that this season.
Wanna win? Ivan, because he does so much at 6-foot-7, 230 pounds.
Utah State coach Jerrod Calhoun said he’s well aware of Ivan, calling him “an X-Factor” and “a glue guy.”
“He’s got size, positional size, he’s tough,” Calhoun said Saturday afternoon. “I think he’s hit seven out of his last 11 (3-pointers). He’s shooting at a high clip right now.
“So, we’ve got to know where he is at all times. We understand he wants to (go to) his right hand. We got to get him going left. I think he’s really tough. You know, they got a lot of guys that are tough.”
And he epitomizes that for Arizona. It’s in his steely eyes. It’s in his competitiveness and feistiness.
“On the court, I just try to lock in,” he said. “Sometimes, after the games, I see myself in pictures after the game, and I see (my intensity), the eyes. I wouldn’t change it. I wanted to focus. I don’t care how I look.”
Teammate Koa Peat said Ivan plays with an “edge,”
Dell’Orso said Kharchenkov is handsy and always active.
“He plays hard, that’s the No. 1 thing,” said Anthony Dell’Orso, who went up against him this summer when Kharchenkov arrived. “He plays and plays and plays. He gives full effort. Even if he makes a mistake he gets back into the play. It’s nothing you can scout.”
So, there’s that. Fran Fraschilla loves him, raving about him often while doing Arizona’s games on ESPN.
“Ivan Kharchenkov was the perfect fit for this team,” Fraschilla said on Saturday. “He’s a superstar in his role as a great defender and a player with a high offensive IQ. He’s the epitome of his head coach’s tenacity, as well.”
He has that combination of good player on top of right place, right time. Some call it instincts.
On Friday morning, he had had a career-high 10 rebounds to go with his 14 points. He said he was lucky to be in the area. Of course, it’s more to it than that. He knows where to be.
Instincts. Either you have them or you don’t.
“I learned them from my pops,” he said. “And just playing at a young age. Sometimes we’d be watching basketball on the couch and he’d be like, ‘did you see that play?’ I’d say, yeah (and not really know what happened). He’d say, ‘you’re not watching.’ So from there he started watching and studying.
Angles. Tendencies. All of it.
“Exactly,” he said.
And so, a basketball prodigy – ok, a little hyperbole – was born.
“He’s amazing,” teammate Mo Krivas said. “He’s just a freshman but you couldn’t tell that. He’s so important.”
Important, indeed. He’s averaging 10.2 points per game, 4.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game. He’s averaging 27.7 minutes per game.
“Ivan’s obviously been a real impact player for us all season long,” said Tommy Lloyd. “Seems like he’s finding his rhythm on offense a little bit more and finding ways to put up consistent numbers on a nightly basis, which has been really helpful. We knew what we were getting in Ivan – that he was going to be a good player. And I’m glad to see him having so much success.”
Lloyd said earlier this week, “no stage rattles him.”
As for his instincts, Lloyd said, “The biggest thing for me is he’s fearless. He’s fearless and he has a high IQ. And he’s able in the moment to utilize those two attributes. Those are great attributes to have as a basketball player, to not be afraid of the moment and to know what’s going on. I think there’s a lot of value in that.”
And Kharchenkov brings value, lots of it. He hoped to make sure of that when he first decided on Arizona when he was recruited. He left his pro team in Europe in part because he wanted to play more. He played few minutes in 23 games for Bayern Munich.
His thought was he needed to play more in order to get to the NBA. That hasn’t changed. He also knew that in order to stay on the court, he needed to play defense.
“If you wanted to stay on the court you had to play defense and not get beat,” he said. “The main focus – because I wanted to play – was pay defense. And it translated over here.”
And here he is in his basketball heaven, choosing to leave Europe for more time and the perfect spot.
Recommended for you
