Opponent spotlight | From Nigeria to the U.S. Navy

O.J. Avworo has one of the biggest families around.

Outside of his parents and siblings, the junior point guard can count his home village in Warri, Nigeria and his fellow Navy teammates as part of the group.

Avworo lived in Warri until age six, when his parents decided that Nigeria, with its conflict and political instability, did not offer the best opportunity for their children to get an education.

However, the value of community was ingrained in Avworo.

“My neighbors’ parents would act as my parents when my parents weren’t there or anything like that,” Avworo said. “My neighbors, I treated them as my brothers … living [in America], you can go years without knowing who your neighbor is or talking with them or anything like that.”

The youngest of six children, Avworo settled in Houston where he quickly noticed that the most popular sport on the playground was basketball and not soccer, as it had been in Nigeria.

By his senior year at Alief Elsik high school, Avworo was a highly touted prospect. He ended his high school career as the school’s all-time leader in assists, with 924, and managed to put up 10.8 points and 11.3 assists per game during an All-State senior season.

Recruitment at Texas schools like Southern Methodist and Texas-El Paso fell through due to fired coaches and extended NCAA tournament runs that offset official visits.

The unlikely choice became Idaho in the Western Athletic Conference, where Avworo was one of the WAC’s top freshmen. He led his team with 95 assists, but his personal accomplishments were not matched by those of his team — the Vandals lost 27 games that season.

“A major dream of mine is to go to the NCAA Tournament, and I didn’t think that would happen at Idaho,” Avworo said. “Academically, I just wanted a better situation because basketball didn’t look too bright.”

Though Avworo planned to move closer to home, fate intervened when an Associate Athletic Director at Idaho turned out to be a friend of Navy head coach Billy Lange.

Lange just had to be himself to convince Avworo to come to Navy.

“He’s just one of those people that’s so passionate, so intense, and loves the game so much, that you can’t help but be drawn into it,” Avworo said. “I feel like I’m that type of guy, too, so I related to him immediately once we started talking about basketball and how it should be played.”

Avworo sat out one season per NCAA rules, but his impact on the team has been palpable since his arrival in Annapolis, Md.

“He has affected our program in so many positive ways since he’s gotten here — even the year he sat out,” Lange said. “He’s just come in here, put himself down as a leader …and it’s really brought out the leadership skills of everybody else.”

At an institution that preaches leadership, Avworo has been a perfect fit.

“He’s not a long-range sniper, he’s not a great shooter from a percentage standpoint,” Lange said. “But his ability to get the ball moving and get guys open shots at a high tempo are … the best things he does.”

Lange is more impressed by Avworo’s characteristics off the court, citing his hard-working nature, his communication skills, and his loyalty to his family.

Avworo has yet to return to Nigeria, but he and Lange have spoken about the possibility of running a basketball camp there sometime after his graduation.

In the future, Avworo hopes to work on submarines while fulfilling his service requirement, then return to what he’s familiar with.

“I kind of want to come back in the coaching realm, or college basketball realm,” Avworo said. “Hopefully someone will take me in and I can go from there.”

When asked about the possibility of succeeding his current coach, Avworo laughs.

“If there’s an opening, I mean, I love this place, so I wouldn’t mind coaching at the Naval Academy at all.”

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