"If I'm not dying, I'm playing basketball." Ugonna Onyenso wasn't going to be denied season debut

Kentucky sophomore center Ugonna Onyenso nearly didn’t make the trip to Atlanta over the weekend. His teammates left on Friday, but Onyenso stayed back in Lexington while he battled the flu. By Saturday morning, he was feeling well enough to travel down and join the rest of the team, but there were still questions in the leadup to tipoff against North Carolina about whether or not he’d suit up and finally make his season debut.

Ultimately, Onyenso was cleared by head coach John Calipari. The 7-foot center was still under the weather, but he was eager to get on the floor after recovering from a broken foot he suffered back in July. The sooner he could get in the game, the quicker he could ramp up into game shape.

“For me, the more I delayed getting back into games, the more time I take,” Onyenso told reporters on Wednesday. “So I didn’t want to delay that, because if I didn’t play that game, my first game would have been against Louisville and that would have been my first restriction game. I’m sick, it’s cool. I’m not dying. I’m not gonna die.”

"If I'm not dying, I'm playing basketball."

Really good quote here Kentucky sophomore center Ugonna Onyenso on his season debut against UNC.

Onyenso was dealing with the flu and threw up during pregame shootaround, but wasn't going to be denied the opportunity to finally play. pic.twitter.com/eBN2QQRWeT

— Zack Geoghegan (@ZGeogheganKSR) December 20, 2023

The initial plan was to give Onyenso 5-10 minutes of action in a limited role off the bench. Due to frontcourt foul trouble, he ended up playing just a hair under 10 minutes, recording one point, one rebound, one assist, and three blocks in UK’s 87-83 win over North Carolina.

It was probably more playing time than Calipari would have liked, but Kentucky didn’t have many options with Aaron Bradshaw and Tre Mitchell having to watch from the bench, especially in the first half when both were tagged with two personal fouls each. Onyenso didn’t mind though. He was going to do whatever Calipari asked of him. No sickness was going to prevent him from helping the team.

“I came into shootaround that morning, I threw up. Like, in the middle of shootaround. I threw up,” Onyenso said. “So Coach Cal was like, ‘If you can give us five minutes, that’s okay.’ I’m like of course I can give you five minutes. I have no problem with that. If I’m not dying, I’m playing basketball.”

There were points during his debut that he felt like he was though. Not only was he dealing with the flu, but it was his first true in-game action since the 2022-23 season. Recovering from a broken foot makes staying in good shape even more challenging. Onyenso got gassed pretty quickly against UNC, but constant encouragement from his teammates helped him push through.

“My first time checking into the game, I was like yeah it’s gonna be a real tough one for me,” Onyenso said. “But I had my teammates pushing me. It was 11 seconds to go in the first half, I’m like I need a sub. It was 11 seconds. Adou (Thiero) was like, you gotta push through, it’s just 11 seconds bro. Having that kind of people around me, people who lift me up, what else am I looking for? This is a very wonderful team. They’re gonna pick you up. That’s all that matters. The kind of relationship we have off the court is what’s helping us when we play.”

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