New recruit Jacob Antchak looking to be the 'Canadian Crusher' for UWGB men's basketball
From the moment Sundance Wicks picked up Jacob Antchak from the airport last week — it included an enthusiastic honking of his car horn when he arrived — it was a match made in heaven for the first-year University of Wisconsin-Green Bay men’s basketball coach and his latest recruit.
Antchak, a 6-foot-8, 245-pound forward from Langley, Canada, already speaks like Wicks, even using the word "juice" a few times in a recent conversation.
He also digs the nicknames his new coach comes up with, and the fact Antchak is built like a 1980s Hulk Hogan made the "Canadian Crusher” not only his favorite but probably the most accurate.
Antchak loved the small-town vibe when he arrived here, even if he doesn’t think it’s such a small town. He loved Wicks and his assistant coaches but also academic coordinator Mike Kline, the popular and longtime cross-country coach.
So, it wasn’t a surprise Thursday when he announced his commitment to UWGB, just a day after he visited campus. He left confident he would be back again but wanted to go home and talk it over with family.
Everyone agreed there was no need to wait, even though other schools were interested.
It was the perfect fit.
Antchak is the fifth player in program history born or raised in Canada, a list that includes Mike King (1999-2001 and 2002-04), Simone Farine (2005-06), Tevin Findlay (2013-17) and Sukhjot Baines (2017-18).
“Oh, man, this means the world to me,” Antchak said. “It kind of provides an opportunity for the next step of my journey, and it’s with good people.
“Everyone there was just super welcoming. Everyone had that juice. … We just had this great energy. We just had this juice flowing. I’m serious. We had it going. I didn’t want to wait on it, wait on it, wait on it and let that mojo kind of freeze up.”
Per NCAA rules, Wicks is not allowed to comment on potential recruits until their paperwork is complete.
Jacob Antchak's road to redemption
Antchak’s path to Green Bay has been an interesting one, to say the least. An immature kid became a man in a relatively short period thanks to some serious self-reflection.
He spent his first two years of high school at Walnut Grove — high school begins in eighth grade in some parts of Canada — before attending the London Basketball Academy in London, Ontario, during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He played with talents such as BYU’s Atiki Ally Atiki and Cal State Northridge’s Cam Slaymaker while there, but he wasn’t as receptive to the coaching as he should have been and left for Wasatch Academy in Mount Pleasant, Utah.
Just one problem.
He again wasn’t mature enough to make it work, unable to apply anything he had learned at his last stop to make this one any better.
Antchak finally realized what part of the issue was, and he saw it every time he looked in the mirror.
“How do you go to all these different places and it doesn’t work out?” Antchak said. “Eventually, you are like, ‘OK. What is the problem here, aside from me?’
“But also, not comparing yourself to others but reflecting on your own situations. Like, if I had done this, that kind of stuff. That’s kind of how I reached that conclusion.”
Any time he even remotely thought about giving up the game it only reminded him that the great ones, the ones who achieve success, are the ones who don’t quit at that moment. He’s loved basketball for so long he had no choice but to keep going.
“It’s easy to give up,” Antchak said. “But it takes a lot of power and strength to be able to resist all the negative things that can come up.”
Antchak landed at CTA West prep basketball academy in Calgary and finally found his way under coach Adam Huffman, a well-known figure on the basketball scene in Canada.
Huffman taught him all the things the other coaches had attempted but before he was mature enough to appreciate.
He learned how to accept his role on a team. How to buy into the team concept. How to not be so darn stubborn.
Everything clicked.
Antchak received his offer from UWGB last month, although he believes Wicks was talking to Huffman about him when Wicks still was an assistant at Wyoming last season.
“He just showed me a level of care, where I just opened up,” Antchak said of Huffman. “Whatever he said, I was going to run through a wall for him.”
Jacob Antchak will bring the juice
Antchak will be a true freshman this season, but he doesn’t look like one. Plenty of rookies need time in the weight room to add some muscle, but that won’t be an issue with him. There won’t be many players stronger on most nights in the Horizon League.
Part of his great build likely is because of elite genetics. His father was a pitcher for Team Canada and his mother a high-level figure skater.
But it’s also because of a ton of effort. Ask any of his teammates, and they will tell you he never took shortcuts during workouts.
UWGB already has shooters and those willing to do the dirty work in the post with some of Wicks’ incoming recruits.
Antchak is going to fill a different kind of role, the one that had Wicks calling him the Canadian Crusher.
“He’s got all these terms,” Antchak said. “He’s got that sauce, man. He has all these nice terms. I love it.
“I will be in constant motion. Setting screens. Rolling. If I catch it from the elbow, I am one dribble, make a move and dunk the ball. Or catching it off the short roll and looking to pass.
“We are looking to develop my game in the post.”
Antchak doesn’t think he will redshirt this season. UWGB has plans for him, and he’s ready to attack all of them. He will run through a wall for Wicks just like he would for Huffman.
“You can’t settle,” Antchak said. “You just have got to go out there, work really hard, show the coaches that, ‘Hey, man, I have got to be on the court.’
“That’s just all you have got to do, right?”
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Jacob Antchak looking to be 'Canadian Crusher' for UWGB basketball
