Skip to main content
Join
Team Avatar
West Virginia

WATCH: James Okonkwo rejects Texas Tech dunk at the rim

Wade-Peeryby:Wade Peery•01/25/23
james-okonkwo-rejects-texas-tech-dunk-at-the-rim
(Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)

As one West Virginia poster on Twitter so eloquently put it on Wednesday evening, “the ghost of Sagaba Konate has possessed James Okonkwo. Konate was one of the best shot blockers in college basketball history during his time with the West Virginia Mountaineers, and on Wednesday night against Texas Tech, Okonkwo had an epic rejection the rim that certainly reminded you of the former Mountaineer great. Red Raiders’ power forward Daniel Batcho went up for a dunk, where he was met at the rim with both hands by Okonkwo, for a perfectly clean block.

Check out the epic rejection here.

West Virginia throttled Texas Tech by the score of 76-61 on Wednesday night. The Mountaineers were paced by Joe Touissaint, who stuffed the stat sheet with 22 points, six rebounds, and two assists. James Okonkwo had a spectacular performance against Texas Tech, pumping in five points, grabbing 10 rebounds, and the epic block above in 22 minutes of work.

The 6-foot-8, 240-pound forward is originally a native of Maidenhead, England. In the 2021-2022 college basketball season, Okonkwo missed the first seven games of the season with a foot injury. He only played in three games that year, averaging 3.7 minutes per game. The big man came to the United States in August of 2020. He’s still relatively new to the game of basketball and was an excellent tennis player growing up in England.

In high school in the United States, Okonkwo attended Beckley Prep (Beckley, West Virginia), but didn’t play much at all for them due to Covid-19 and dealing with a broken finger. He played for the All-Ohio Red team in AAU basketball.

It’ll be interesting to see his career progress in the coming years. If he’s making plays like the one he did on Wednesday night, Okonkwo could have a very bright future ahead of him.