‘I still find a way to be effective’: Cohen’s style of play is unique and different

FAYETTEVILLE — Growing up in New Jersey, UMass transfer Josh Cohen always tried to model his game after his father, Peter.

Peter, who is 6-8 and could still dunk a basketball at age 45, according to The Boston Globe, was who Cohen looked up to. He placed a basketball in his son’s hands before he was two years old.

“That’s who I wanted to play like,” Cohen told Natty State Sports. “And from there I just kept playing.”

Now, the 6-10 and 220-pound forward is his own man with his own style of play. And Arkansas, who Cohen wrapped up an official visit with Wednesday, is in the running for his services.

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Cohen in 2023-24 averaged 15.9 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.7 assists for the Minutemen, and earned first-team All-Atlantic 10 honors. Despite individual success and the fact he’s considered one of the top players in the transfer portal this spring, Cohen knows skeptics are out there.

“A lot of people, they kind of rag on my game, this, that and the third,” Cohen said. “‘Oh, he’s not athletic. He’s not this. He’s not that.’ But I still find a way to be effective. I find a way to dominate games at the end of the day because I play a different way than really anybody’s kind of seen.

“I just try to be different, be unique. And wherever I go, I try to learn new things.”

Cohen, who played his first three seasons at Saint Francis University in Pennsylvania, noted his mission at the college level has been to outwork anyone he’s playing with and against.

“I’ve seen work ethics of guys in the past before me,” Cohen said. “That’s one thing I have tried to model.”

Cohen singled out Mark Flagg, a former teammate of his at Saint Francis, as someone who worked tirelessly and made a lasting impression on him.

“He was a Philly guy. He worked his butt off,” Cohen said. “I wanted to play like him. I wanted to do what he was doing. He kind of took me under his wing and showed me the way.

“And that’s what I’ve kind of tried to do for the younger kids under me.”