Huggins: Okonkwo has learned to relish important aspect of the sport

Maybe it's just TCU? In the three games between a home win against the Horned Frogs and Tuesday's road loss, West Virginia appeared to have unlocked something new and influential with sophomore James Okonkwo. In a loss to Texas and back-to-back wins against Texas Tech and Auburn, Okonkwo made 5 of 6 shots and 7 of 9 free throws and averaged 5.7 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.7 blocked shots in 17.0 minutes per game. There were plenty of highlights along the way.

Not bad for someone who had only once played more than 17 minutes in a game. Not bad for someone who was left out of a one-sided home win in non-conference play because he didn't take preparations seriously ... and later prescribed himself the punishment of running the Coliseum steps after the game as a way to, as he said, apologize to the program.

"I feel as though I let down my team," he said. "That game I didn't take the warmup that seriously. I wasn't locked in. We were supposed to kill that team by 40, 50 points. I feel as though me not taking the game seriously affected the team, and Coach was justified in not playing me. He expects that from us, to hold ourselves to self-accountability. He was righteous in doing that, and I feel having not made that mistake again that we're good in the aspect."

In the games against TCU, though, he was used just 11 combined minutes and was 0-for-1 from the floor and 1-for-2 from the foul line and had two rebounds and one block. He looked more like the raw freshman who only made it into three games for a total of 10 minutes last season and not like the progressing presence who was giving the Mountaineers an infusion of energy as they found their way to needed wins.

But this is part of the journey for the 6-foot-9 Okonkwo, who grew up playing tennis at a fairly competitive level in England. He'd begin the transition to basketball after a suggestion from an American teacher at Furze Platt School in Maidenhead, England, who liked the Philadelphia 76ers. Okonkwo was only able to play a portion of an initial high school season before it was shut down due to the pandemic, but he used some of his spare time to edit highlights and put them on YouTube. That led to his trip to the United States and West Virginia's Beckley IJN. But even then, Okonkwo, whose brother plays tennis at the University of Iowa, was limited by the pandemic and a broken finger.

Learning and developing would have to wait, and the initial idea was for Okonkwo to redshirt last season. He'd earn an opportunity to play but was again slowed by injury. Progress is off and on, though more on than off lately, and it's started to come together lately for the Mountaineers and their defense and rebounding. In the video above, coach Bob Huggins discusses how Okonkwo ended up with the Mountaineers and what this experience has been like so far.