HERZLIYA, Israel -- Ugonna Onyekwe's journey as a basketball player has been one of jumps -- across borders, oceans and cultures. But there is one more jump he has yet to make.
The 2003 Penn graduate is trying to play his way into the NBA, a dream that, if he can realize it, will have taken him across at least 19,000 miles and three trans-Atlantic trips since his birth in Lagos, Nigeria.
He has gone from Nigeria to London to Philadelphia to Spain and now to Israel, where Onyekwe plays for the Israeli premier league's Bnei Hasharon.
Through his team's first 20 games this season, the 6-foot-8 forward is averaging a team-best (among players who have been healthy all year) 18.2 points per game and 34.4 minutes (out of 40), while grabbing 6.2 rebounds.
Onyekwe credits some of that success to similar styles of play in the United States and in Israel; a different style from what he saw during his two years in Spain after his college career.
"I think basketball out here is a lot more up-and-down, a lot more like the States here in Israel," Onyekwe said after practice Sunday night. "I'm more comfortable, I think, in this system. Spain was a lot more gentle, a lot more slowed down."
He added that the style of play at Penn has helped him with the Israeli style.
"Going to a school like Penn, you kind of have a sense of it, because we played more structured than most other schools. But I like the style of play out here. ... I think going to a school like Penn definitely prepared me more for right now."
In his second season in Spain, playing for the second-division team Huelva, Onyekwe averaged 13.7 points and 6.2 rebounds in 28 minutes per game.
The world traveler has taken his latest move in stride.
"It's been a good experience thus far," he said. "Israel's a lot different from Spain. I probably didn't know what to expect coming out here; at least going to Spain, I knew what to expect. But it's been a pleasant surprise. It's been nice; the people are nice; the weather is nice."
The forward starred with the Quakers between 1999 and 2003, winning the Ivy League Rookie of the Year award and two Ivy Player of the Year nods.
In Israel, Onyekwe still has connections to the world of Ivy League and NCAA basketball. Former Yale guard Matt Minoff plays in the Israeli league, as does former Arizona guard Jason Gardner, among other former NCAA players.
This, along with the relatively large number of American transplants in Israel and the fact that most Israelis speak at least some English, has made Onyekwe's transition to a foreign culture a relatively smooth one.
On the court, Bnei Hasharon is not quite a dominant force, like Penn is in the Ivy League, going 9-11 so far and sitting in seventh place in the 11-team league.
But there is still time left in the season, and his team is coming off a 75-70 win over two-time defending European champion Maccabi Tel Aviv, which is 16-3 in Israel and just made the Euroleague semifinals last week.
The win came off a stretch of several bad losses for Bnei Hasharon, and Onyekwe said it was his best experience so far in Israel.
However, his focus continues to be on the top of the professional basketball world.
"For me, the number-one goal has always been trying to make it to the NBA," he said. "That's still my focus and still my priority and something I keep working towards."
Onyekwe said he would return to the United States this summer to play and try to hook on with an NBA team.
In addition to the NCAA contacts, Onyekwe also keeps in touch with his former teammates at Penn.
"You're part of a family," he said, mentioning the names of current assistant Matt Langel, as well as past teammates Jeff Schiffner and Michael Jordan as people he still speaks with.
While Onyekwe's team in Israel hasn't had the success he had at Penn (48-8 in Ivy play with three titles), he hopes that the experience here will finally make his NBA dream come true.
And in case you were wondering who would win in a game between Bnei Hasharon and the Quakers from Onyekwe's senior season, he gave a reluctant answer.
"I'm going to say Penn," he said, laughing.
