Viktor Lakhin Ready to Unleash Three-Point Shot Ahead of 2023-24 Season: 'I Get Excited Scoring Threes'

CINCINNATI — UC basketball forward Viktor Lakhin has elevated his game each year under Wes Miller and another key development is tracking toward impacting this season: His three-point shot.

Lakhin went 2-of-4 from deep last season, but he could swing wins inside and out as a Big 12 player.

"We're now allowing him to stretch and shoot threes," Miller said on Wednesday.

Lakhin is an important player on the team and his importance will go up if Cincinnati can't win its eligibility dispute with the NCAA for Jamille Reynolds and Aziz Bandaogo. Lakhin would be the top frontcourt piece on the team.

"He's taken another big step forward, this has been two years in the making," Miller continued. "He shot over 40% in our summer practices. He's been close to that in our preseason practices. Now, that doesn't mean he'll do that in games, but I do think he's a real threat to stretch and shoot threes now."

Miller discussed some of his development on that front last season and it's been a continuous process since then.

Lakhin acknowledged he's trying to strike a balance of playing outside, while still sharpening one of the most efficient interior offensive games in the country (61.7% FG rate, No. 1 in AAC)

"More fun because I get excited scoring threes," A smiling Lakhin said about the transition. "But me being on the perimeter a lot in the offseason takes away from me being in paint now. ... I gotta find a balance of being there because I can't hurt what's actually my superpower to be around the basket and have a high field goal percentage I can't just forget about it and be a three-point specialist. So it's much more fun to play that way and freeing for the team also because they can't just help off me, stuff like that. So, at this point, just about finding balance."

Wes Miller has mentioned quite a bit how he would like to see Viktor Lakhin expand his outside game.

Miller notes that Lakhin is shooting at a 40% clip from deep this offseason. pic.twitter.com/x4edTAKCU3
— Neil Meyer (@MeyerNeil6) October 18, 2023