Ikenna Okwarabizie will enroll at UCLA as a sophomore this summer
Courtesy: UCLA Athletics
LOS ANGELES – The UCLA basketball program has received a signed National Letter of Intent from Ikenna Okwarabizie during the regular signing period, it was announced today by head coach Steve Alford.
Okwarabizie (pronounced oak-war-uh-BEE-zee-ay), a 6-foot-9, 250-pound center, spent his freshman year (2014-15) at Tyler Junior College (Tyler, Texas). In 34 games (33 starts), Okwarabizie averaged 6.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.2 blocks, finishing second on the team in blocked shots (41) and total rebounds (237).
"Ike brings great size, strength and physicality to the table and will certainly help our play in the post," Alford said. "He comes from a very good program at Tyler Junior College and has been coached well. We needed to add depth to our interior, and we know that Ike will help us fill that need."
During his freshman season at Tyler JC, Okwarabizie helped lead the Apaches to a 25-9 overall record under the direction of head coach Mike Marquis. Tyler JC advanced to the second round of the NJCCA National Basketball Tournament before falling to No. 1-seed Connors State on March 17.
Okwarabizie grew up in Lagos, Nigeria and moved to the United States three years ago. He spent his junior year of high school at St. Louis Christian Academy (St. Louis, Mo.) and his senior year at East High School (Sioux City, Iowa) before enrolling at Tyler Junior College.
As a senior at East, Okwarabizie joined the team midway through its season and in 13 games, averaged 13.2 points and 12.5 rebounds per game while shooting 60 percent from the field. Prior to joining East, Okwarabizie helped St. Louis Christian Academy to a 25-5 record during the 2012-13 season. While in St. Louis, he also competed for the St. Louis Eagles AAU team.
Okwarabizie will enroll in summer school as a sophomore at UCLA beginning this June. He joins an incoming class that already features guards Prince Ali (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) and Aaron Holiday (North Hollywood, Calif.) and forward Alex Olesinski (Roswell, N.M.). All three are currently seniors in high school with Ali at The Sagemont School (Weston, Fla.), Holiday at Campbell Hall High School (North Hollywood, Calif.) and Olesinski at La Lumiere School (La Porte, Ind.).
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