BOSTON -- The points came from all over the floor.
A turnaround from the post.
Jumper from the top of the key.
A reverse layup and the foul.
Oklahoma State had no answer for Ugonna Onyekwe.
Despite having one of the nation's best defenses and playing in the best conference in the country -- the Big 12 -- the Cowboys were flummoxed trying to defend the Ivy League Player of the year.
In the first half alone, Onyekwe netted 18 points and missed only one shot, going 7-for-8 from the floor and 3-for-3 from the line. Every one of his shots seemed to spark Penn and deflate the Cowboys, particularly an athletic reverse layup with four minutes, 42 seconds to play in the first half. That play gave the Quakers their largest lead of the game at 29-24.
"Ugonna was awesome today," Penn senior Andrew Toole said of his classmate. "Right from the outset you could see he was really focused, playing really aggressively offensively and defensively."
Despite coming in a losing effort, Onyekwe's performance was one for the ages. The 65-percent free-throw shooter went 9-for-9 from the line as well as 10-for-16 from the field. The 30 points matched his career-high and elicited high praise from the coach he tormented all day.
"He's probably as good as any player we have in our conference and we have some good ones in the Big 12," Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton said said of the Ivy League Player of the Year.
Kansas senior forward Nick Collison was named to the ESPN.com All-America team and is widely considered to be one of the best players in the nation.
Onyekwe is the equal of that according to the 32-year coaching veteran.
This is not the first time this season that Onyekwe has been compared to great players across the basketball landscape. He was a preseason nominee for the John Wooden Award, annually given to the nation's top player.
Onyekwe is leaving the program as its second-leading all-time scorer and after the performance on Friday, stands an excellent chance of being the first Penn player to hear his name called during the NBA Draft this June since Jerome Allen in 1995.
How much will the Quakers miss the player who almost singlehandedly carried them past the No. 23 team in the nation?
"I guess time will tell," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "He's done a terrific job over his four year career... he played great when the competition was a level up for us and I thought that was a sign of a guy who had no fear whatsoever.
"He thought he was capable of playing on the biggest stage."
After four years of playing -- for the most part -- off of college basketball's biggest stages, Onyekwe was asked if he regretted not going to a big-time conference.
"No not at all," Onyekwe said. "I made the decision to come here and and I knew what I was getting into coming here. It's been a great four years and I don't regret any of it at all. I couldn't have asked for better teammates. I couldn't have asked for a better situation, and I believe that everything happens for a reason so I don't have any regrets at all."
