New year, new role for JP Tokoto

From third grade through the middle of sixth grade, J.P. Tokoto lived with his grandparents off and on. They were closer to his school in Rockford, Ill., and, more importantly, closer to his first love — soccer.

Tokoto’s grandfather, also Jean Pierre Tokoto, had played on the Cameroonian national soccer team in the early 1980s. In the ’90s when he began to coach, naturally, his grandson began to play.

Every day after school, the elder Jean Pierre would pick up the younger, grab a bite to eat and hit the road. The elder coached two teams, and the younger played with both.

Practice was more than an hour away, so many nights were spent on long drives to and from the field, just the two J.P. Tokotos and lengthy stretches of highway.

“My grandfather is a music guy, so any time I had a chance, I was putting on new music for him,” Tokoto said. “Sometimes he’d say, ‘Change it.’ Sometimes he’d say, ‘Play it again.’”

But most of the time, on those long drives before and after practice, Tokoto slept.

Now, nine years later, and 800 miles from his grandfather’s home in Rockford, it’s impossible to sleep on Tokoto.

The 6-foot-6 junior forward has found his role on the star-studded No. 6 North Carolina men’s basketball team.

“Right now, I’m a facilitator.”

Tokoto’s facilitating is best measured by the momentum litmus test that is UNC’s bench.

It’s during the preseason exhibition games against opponents who could manage to get blown out by the Washington Generals where tedium can easily take hold and the bench’s electricity can start to fade.

Tokoto is the arch-nemesis of tedium.

It’s here where he resumes his relentless assault on the basket, where each new strike seems primed to rip the rim from its hinges.

It’s here where, on a fast break, he cocks the rock back until it touches the embroidered “TOKOTO” on his jersey as if to ensure the ball remembers his name before he slams it through the rim, knocking it unconscious and bringing life back to the Smith Center.

It’s here where the bench erupts, waving towels and throwing their hands on their heads, in utter shock and amazement.

It’s here where the facilitator manufactures momentum.

In sixth grade, Tokoto moved back to Wisconsin and was faced with a choice. He could find a new soccer team and play without his grandfather for the first time since he was 3 years old, or he could listen to his friend, C.J. Malone.

Malone wanted to convince Tokoto to try out for a local AAU basketball team. Tokoto relented and tagged along.

“I went, had a great time, loved it,” he said. “I had to choose one or the other. I decided to focus on basketball.”

Recently, Tokoto has switched his focus again.

It’s another part of the facilitator — pass first, ask questions later. The turnover-prone Tokoto, who was second on the team in turnovers last year, worked on control all summer with Coach Hubert Davis.

In two exhibition games this season, Tokoto has logged 14 assists and one turnover.

That level of near-flawless distribution is essential for Coach Roy Williams’ Usain-Bolt-esque transition game, and though he said Tokoto’s performance so far has facilitated that tempo, there’s room for improvement.

“They still look like a Model T. Ford out there compared to the way I want them to run,” Williams said after UNC’s 112-34 defeat of Belmont Abbey Nov. 7. “It’s nowhere near where I want it to be, but I think we’re going to get there.”

Defensively, the only UNC representative on the 2014 ACC All-Defensive Team has one thing in mind: “Create havoc like I did last year.”

Tokoto, who led UNC with 55 steals in the 2013-14 season, credits his defensive diligence to his years on the pitch and the quick feet that long hours of soccer practice gifted him.

Still, despite these improvements, Tokoto realizes he’s just one cog in the North Carolina machine that has its sights set as high as they can go.

“If everything goes the way we want it to... I imagine this team going all the way to the championship,” he said. “Coach has said that he sees we have the tools, we have the players, we have the atmosphere.”

All they need now is someone to bring it all together — a sparkplug when momentum is scarce and a bellows to stoke the fire when it’s hot. They need a facilitator. They need Tokoto.

sports@dailytarheel.com