Ze'Rik Onyema commits to the Texas Longhorns
UTEP transfer power forward Ze’Rik Onyema committed to the Texas Longhorns on Thursday.
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The 6-foot-8, 230-pounder’s commitment comes on the heels of an official visit to Texas on Tuesday and Wednesday. The trip to Austin followed an official visit to Vanderbilt to end last week.
The Longhorns’ win over Vanderbilt gives Rodney Terry and staff four key wins out of the portal. Onyema joins 6-foot-11 center Kadin Shedrick, 6-foot scoring machine Max Abmas, and UT-Arlington 6-foot-3 guard and WAC Freshman of the Year Chendall Weaver as players to commit to Texas out of the portal this spring.
Onyema signed with UTEP as part of the 2020 recruiting class, a class signed by Terry, then the Miners head coach. Onyema announced he was going in the portal on April 18. The Longhorns immediately made contact with the former San Antonio (Texas) Jay standout, along with over a dozen other schools. Onyema considered Texas, Vanderbilt and Ole Miss seriously before deciding between the Longhorns and Commodores.
What Onyema means for Texas
The addition of Ze’Rik Onyama gives the Longhorns a very solid front court headed into the 2023-24 season. The return of 6-foot-9 power forward Dylan Disu (8.8 points, 4.4 rebounds) plus the additions of 6-foot-11 Kadin Shedrick (6.2 points, 3.8 rebounds) and 6-foot-8 Onyema (7.1 points, 4.4 rebounds) becomes a taller/longer and better trio defensively with much improved depth in the paint defensively. The trio combined to block 105 shots last season, and that number is expected to ascend in 2023-24.
Disu’s ability to play facing the basket out to 22-feet is a perfect mix when on the court with Shedrick or Onyema. The ability of Abmas to stretch the court out to 25-26-feet will also provide space for Texas bigs to operate with space in the ball screen game.
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Ze’Rik Onyema by the numbers
Onyema has played in 62 games in three seasons, including 32 starts. Thirty-one of those starts came during the 2022-23 season when Onyema showed an ascending offensive game moving without the ball.
After averaging 2.0 points and 1.5 rebounds in his first 30 games in 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons, he averaged 7.1 points and 4.4 rebounds in 2022-23. He converted 55.4% from the field (92-166), 3-12 from three and 55.7% (39-70).
Onyema scored in double figures 12 times in 2022-23, with a season-high of 19 against Florida International. He posted two double-doubles, including an 11 point and 11 rebound effort in a loss to Florida Atlantic in conference play.
