Stanley Onyekachukwu Okoye (born April 10, 1991) is a Nigerian-American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player for

Scafati Basket Scafati Basket, known for sponsorship reasons as Givova Scafati, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Scafati, Campania. The club competes in the top level Italian professional basketball league, the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA). His ...

of the

Lega Basket Serie A The Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) is a professional men's club basketball league that has been organised in Italy since 1920. Serie A is organised by Lega Basket, which is regulated by the Italian Basketball Federation (FIP). It is the highest-tie ...

(LBA). A 6'6"

swingman A swingman is an athlete capable of playing multiple positions in their sport. Basketball In basketball, the term “swingman” (a.k.a. “wing” or “guard-forward”) denotes a player who can play both the shooting guard (2) and small forw ...

, he was named the 2012–13 Big South Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year while playing for

Virginia Military Institute la, Consilio et Animis (on seal) , mottoeng = "In peace a glorious asset, In war a tower of strength""By courage and wisdom" (on seal) , established = , type = Public senior military college , accreditation = SACS , endowment = $696.8 mill ...

(VMI).

High school career

Okoye, a native of

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the South ...

, attended

Knightdale High School Knightdale High School of Collaborative Design (KHSCD) is a public high school part of the Wake County Public School System located in Knightdale, North Carolina. History The first Knightdale High School was operated from 1926 until 1955, when i ...

from 2005 to 2006 through 2008–09. During his four-year varsity career he scored over 1,300 points and grabbed over 550 rebounds, both of which are school records. Okoye also scored a single-game record 42 points during a Class 4A playoff game. Knightdale won 73 games during his tenure. Despite this production on the court, only two

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athleti ...

schools offered him basketball scholarships –

Campbell University Campbell University is a private Baptist university in Buies Creek, North Carolina. It is affiliated with the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina (Southern Baptist Convention). Southern Baptist ConventionColleges and Universities sbc. ...

and VMI. Campbell later rescinded their offer, however, leaving Okoye with VMI as his only Division I opportunity, which he then accepted.

College career

Okoye enrolled in fall 2009 at VMI to play for the Keydets. He had initial struggles coping with college life, especially at a military school where upperclassmen put mental and physical pressures on freshmen. At one point he contemplated dropping out before having played in a single college basketball game, but Okoye stuck with it because of support from his teammates. He said, "I stuck it out because of the other guys. I figured if they could take it, I could too." In 2009–10, Okoye led all

Big South Conference The Big South Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I. Originally a non- football conference, the Big South began sponsoring football in 2002 as part of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). ...

freshmen in scoring and field goal percentage in overall games. In conference games, he led all freshmen in scoring, field goal percentage and blocks. For the season he averaged 14.2 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game and was named to the Big South All-Freshman Team. As a sophomore in

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

, Okoye improved his averages in points, rebounds, assists and steals per game. His blocks per game dipped slightly from his freshman season, however. Okoye finished his second year with 933 career points. Okoye followed a sophomore year with a junior season that saw him claim a Second Team All-Conference selection. In Big South games he averaged 19.5 points and 8.2 rebounds per game, which were second and fourth, respectively, within the league. He led the Keydets to the Big South tournament championship game, but they lost to

UNC Asheville The University of North Carolina Asheville (UNC Asheville, UNCA, or simply Asheville) is a public liberal arts university in Asheville, North Carolina, United States. UNC Asheville is the designated liberal arts institution in the University of N ...

80 to 64. Okoye had a breakout senior season in

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

in which he averaged 21.5 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game. He was named the preseason conference player of the year, an honor he would then garner at the conclusion of the season as well. His scoring and rebounding averages led the Big South and was named its Player of the Week five times throughout the season. VMI lost to Charleston Southern in the conference tournament, thus ending VMI's hopes of a postseason tournament bid. Okoye finished his collegiate career with 2,146 points, 962 rebounds, 212 assists, 152 steals and 103 blocks.

Professional career

On August 13, 2013, Okoye signed with

Ikaros IKAROS (Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun) is a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) experimental spacecraft. The spacecraft was launched on 20 May 2010, aboard an H-IIA rocket, together with the ''Akatsuki'' (V ...

for the

2013–14 Greek Basket League The 2013–14 Greek Basket League was the 74th season of the Greek Basket League, the highest tier professional basketball league in Greece. Previous 2012–13 season's results *Relegated to Greek A2 Basketball League **Peristeri (13th place) ...

season. He left Ikaros before playing in a game for them, and on October 27, 2013, he signed with Barak Netanya of Israel for the rest of the season. In November 2013, he left Netanya after appearing in just four games. On February 6, 2014, Okoye signed with the Perth Redbacks for the 2014 State Basketball League season. He made his debut for the Redbacks in the team's season opener on March 14, recording 30 points, 13 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals in a 96–93 win over the Rockingham Flames. On May 15, he was named the SBL Player of the Week for Round 9. He appeared in all 30 games for the Redbacks in 2014, averaging 28.0 points, 11.2 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.8 steals and 1.0 blocks per game. On August 16, 2014, Okoye signed with

Pallacanestro Varese Pallacanestro Varese, also called by its current sponsor's name, the Openjobmetis Varese, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Varese, Lombardy. Founded in 1945, the team plays in the Italian first division LBA. For past club spo ...

for the

2014–15 Lega Basket Serie A The 2014–15 Lega Basket Serie A was the 93rd season of the Lega Basket Serie A, the highest professional basketball league in Italy. The regular season started on 12 October 2014 and finished on 10 May 2015, after all teams had played 30 games e ...

season. In 23 games for Varese, he averaged 5.4 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. On August 17, 2015, Okoye signed with Bawer Matera of the

Serie A2 Basket Serie A2, known for sponsorship reasons as Serie A2 Old Wild West, is a men's basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Italy. It constitutes the second-tier of the Italian basketball league system, Italian league pyramid, below the first ...

. In February 2016, he left Matera and signed with Pallacanestro Trapani for the rest of the season. On May 27, 2017, Okoye signed with his former club Pallacanestro Varese. In July 2018, Okoye played for the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team was founded as the D ...

during the

2018 NBA Summer League The 2018 NBA Summer League consisted of three pro basketball leagues organized by the National Basketball Association (NBA): the Sacramento Kings's California Classic Summer League, Utah Jazz Summer League, and Las Vegas Summer League. The Sacr ...

. On July 28, Okoye signed a one-year deal with Tecnyconta Zaragoza of the Liga ACB. On July 31, 2019, Okoye signed a one-year deal with Herbalife Gran Canaria. He averaged 6.8 points per game. Okoye re-signed with the team on July 18, 2020. On 13 July 2021, Okoye signed with

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tribut ...

of the Spanish Liga ACB. On July 27, 2022, he has signed with SIG Strasbourg of the French

LNB Pro A The LNB Pro A, currently known for sponsorship reasons as Betclic Élite, is the top-tier men's professional basketball league in France. The competition has existed since 1921. Since 1987, the Ligue Nationale de Basket has governed the league ...

. On December 6, 2022, he signed with

of the

(LBA).

National team career

Okoye has been a member of the senior men's

Nigeria national basketball team The Nigeria national basketball team represents Nigeria in men's international basketball and it is overseen by the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF). In March 2021, the global governing body FIBA ranked Nigeria as Africa's top men's baske ...

, representing them at the

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...

and

2015 AfroBasket AfroBasket 2015 was the 28th edition of the AfroBasket, a men's basketball continental championship of Africa. It also served as the qualifying tournament for FIBA Africa at the 2016 Summer Olympics Basketball Tournament in Brazil. The tourname ...

References

External links