Enrique Freeman arrived on the University of Akron campus as a student in 2018.
There was no signing day hype surrounding his arrival.
His name was not said on television or on radio, and it did not appear online or in a newspaper.
Freeman walked around UA's grounds with an academic scholarship and was a regular on the basketball courts at the Recreation Center.
He decided to write an email to Zips men's basketball coach John Groce and his staff, and showed up for an open tryout at Rhodes Arena in the fall of 2019.
Akron Zips men's basketball coverage: 'I am here and it feels great': Enrique Freeman leads Akron into NCAA Tournament
Freeman , who is 6-foot-7, had never met Groce or any of his future UA teammates until making the team in 2019 as a walk-on.
Move forward 3½ years, and Freeman became the 47th men's basketball player in University of Akron history to surpass 1,000 career points Friday night in a 90-81 loss to host Ohio University in a Mid-American Conference game at the Convocation Center in Athens.
"Enrique is an unbelievable person and obviously a great player," Groce said. "... This is a heck of an accomplishment when you think about where he started and where he has evolved to now as a person, where he is at as a student and where he is at as a player."
Freeman , a junior forward for the Zips, is continuing to blossom as a player. He eclipsed 1,000-points mark with a first-half layup against OU and finished with 21 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks.
Freeman will enter Tuesday's game at Eastern Michigan with 1,019 points in 88 games with UA. He has already been named MAC Player of the Week twice this season — after posting a line of 27 points and 15 rebounds in a 76-51 Jan. 3 win over Northern Illinois and again after compiling 32 points and 15 rebounds in an 83-77 Jan. 28 win over Ohio.
His season also includes big games in wins over South Dakota State (23 points, 14 rebounds), Bowling Green (21 points, 13 rebounds) and Kent State (19 points, 17 rebounds).
"I wouldn't say this was a goal because I was a walk-on, so who knew if I was ever going to be able to score 1,000 points?" Freeman said. "It does feel great being up with there C Jack [former Akron teammate Loren Cristian Jackson who is No. 6 on the Zips career scoring list with 1,587 points in 87 games].
"C Jack was such a huge leader to our team [from 2018 to 2021] and inspirational to me and to other guys on the team. When you have leaders who come and then go, their legacy lives through us and we are able to learn from them and create our own new stories and different paths of scoring."
Akron Zips men's basketball coverage: University of Akron forward Enrique Freeman rips off the mask of anonymity
Freeman's story this season includes being selected as a top-10 finalist for the Basketball Hall of Fame Karl Malone Award, which recognizes the top power forward in Division I men's college basketball.
Freeman is ranked in the NCAA top 10 in total rebounds, rebounds per game and defensive rebounds per game. He is also in the NCAA top 30 in double-doubles, offensive rebounds per game and field goal percentage.
This comes on the heels of Freeman's impressive run last year that included being named MAC Tournament Most Valuable Player and MAC Defensive Player of the Year after Akron earned the MAC Tournament title with wins over Buffalo , Toledo and Kent State . Freeman totaled 23 points, eight rebounds, two assists and two steals in a 75-55 win over KSU in the MAC Tournament final that propelled Akron into the NCAA Tournament, where it lost 57-53 to UCLA.
Freeman , a graduate of St. Martin de Porres High School in Cleveland, received an athletic scholarship before last season. He graduated from UA with a bachelor's degree in media studies, communications this past summer and will be halfway to a master's degree in interdisciplinary business after this semester.
"This is really one of the best stories I have ever seen or been a part of in college basketball over my 30 years," said Groce, who was the head coach at Illinois and Ohio and an assistant at Ohio State, Xavier, Butler, North Carolina State and Taylor.
"He is the type of guy where you want great things to happen to him and his team because of the type of person that he is, the teammate he is, his humility, his motor and his work ethic. He is very special."
As of Feb. 10, the 10 candidates for the Karl Malone Award are Freeman, Gonzaga's Drew Timme, Arizona's Ąžuolas Tubelis, Indiana's Trayce Jackson-Davis , Clemson's Hunter Tyson, Iowa's Kris Murray, Dayton's DaRon Holmes II, Miami of Florida's Norchad Omier, Duke's Kyle Filipowski and Providence's Bryce Hopkins.
It is important to note that players can play their way onto and off the list at any point in the 2022-2023 season.
Michael Beaven can be reached at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal and is on Twitter at @MBeavenABJ.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Enrique Freeman of Akron 'one of the best stories' in basketball
