Basketball: Ko looks to take advantage of walk-on opportunity

Hailing from a densely populated town nestled between the moss-lined mountains and white sand beaches of Honolulu, Hawaii, Joshua Ko is the newest face on the Pitt men’s basketball team.

Ko’s hometown — Kailua, to be exact — has a population of 40,000. Although the town is 4,651 miles from Pitt’s Cathedral of Learning, Ko’s situation proves that the world really isn’t as big as it may seem.

Ko attended Kalaheo High School, which only serves a small amount of Kailua’s residents. His high school basketball coach, Alika Smith, was a standout guard at the University of Hawaii from 1994 to 1998 and is the third-leading scorer in the program’s history with 1,415 points. 

Following Smith’s final season at Hawaii, current Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon accepted an assistant coaching job at Hawaii under former head coach Riley Wallace. Dixon had also served as an assistant to Wallace from 1992 to 1994, and he helped land the commitment of Smith, who is a Hawaii native.

Little did Dixon know that signing Smith at Hawaii would pay off in 2013, when Dixon was presented with an open roster spot at Pitt.

Ko, a 6-foot-1, 150-pound guard, recently addressed his past and present situations while laying out his future goals for his years at Pitt in a Q-and-A session with The Pitt News.

The Pitt News: Talk a little bit about your hometown, and how on earth did you meet up with Coach Dixon?

Joshua Ko: I’m from the main island of Oahu. Our high school, it was Kalaheo. It’s a pretty chill environment, laid back. We go to the beach all day, right after school. It’s either go to the beach or go practice basketball. When Coach Dixon was still coaching at the University of Hawaii as an assistant, my head coach at high school was recruited by Coach Dixon during that time. When I played for Coach [Smith], I asked him if he had any connections, and Coach Dixon was one of the main guys he brought up, and from there, the connection just kind of happened. 

TPN: Although highly populated, your hometown seems to be a strictly residential area. What drew you into the big city and bright lights of Pittsburgh?

JK: In Hawaii, we don’t have the “fast life” kind of thing. I wanted to get off the island and come to the mainland, mainly preferring coming to the East Coast and seeing how the different lifestyle is.

TPN: On to basketball: You accomplished a lot during your junior and senior seasons. What are some highlights from those days?

JK: My senior season went very well. It’s what every senior wants, to go out in high school winning a state championship. During my time in high school, my junior year, we won the Divison II state championship, and in my senior year, we won Division I, so in my state that’s never been done before. We made history. After my senior season, I was lucky to be player of the year and then actually nominated as Gatorade player of the year for my state. I’m truly blessed to be noticed as a top player in my state, so that’s pretty cool. 

TPN: What are your goals as a freshman walk-on here at Pitt?

JK: My goals for the year are to learn the system here at Pitt. This is totally different from basketball in Hawaii. We were mainly slower paced than how the mainland plays — just getting used to it, learning the plays, learning the different style and just getting along with the program.

TPN: Coach Dixon always says his guards will see more minutes as their perimeter defense progresses. Do you think you’re where you need to be defensively, considering the slow-paced style you played in Hawaii?

JK: I’m getting used to the adjustment of here in the mainland, especially here at Pitt, because at Pitt we’re trying to emphasize more defense. If we can stop the team from scoring that much it will make the offense come much easier to us. Defensively I’m trying to get up there, but I think I’m almost there.