SAN DIEGO – Michael Sohikish, one of San Diego State men's basketball feel good stories from the program's recent past, has returned to his alma mater to serve as a graduate assistant for the program beginning in the 2020-21 season.
At SDSU, the University City High School product lived every basketball player's dream. He began in his freshman year as a graphic designer for the team and then went on to serve for three years as a student manager (2015-17). As a junior, he worked his way onto the roster, and then as a scholarship athlete, competed for the Aztecs against the likes of No. 1/1 Duke in his senior season of 2018-19.
Sohikish is uniquely qualified for his new position due to the fact that for three years he managed the day-to-day operation of team practices, workouts, and games, in addition to other on and off-court duties.
In two seasons as a student-athlete, Sohikish (so-HEEK-ish) appeared in 23 games with one start. His career-high five points came in the penultimate regular-season home game of the 2018-19 season, against San Jose State, and his lone start came four days later, on Senior Night, against Fresno State.
At University City High School, he led his team in scoring in both his junior and senior campaigns, including averaging 13.6 points as a senior and, along with 5.6 assists and 2.1 steals per game, helped guide the team to the quarterfinal of the 2014 CIF San Diego Section playoffs.
Sohikish graduated from San Diego State in May 2019 with a degree in civil engineering and one year later, in May 2020, earned a Master of Science in civil engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.