By R.L. Bynum
Former West Virginia big man James Okonkwo, who committed Thursday to transfer to Carolina, begins play Friday at the FIBA U20 European Championships Division B.
Okonkwo, who is from Maidenhead, England, and attended high school at Beckley Prep in West Virginia before playing his first two college seasons at West Virginia, will play for Great Britain at the competition in Skopje, North Macedonia.
Great Britain faces Austria at 3 p.m. ET Friday in the first of four pool play games in Group B, and you can watch a stream of the game here. Okonkwo is No. 23.
Okonkwo, a 6–8, 240-pound shot-blocker who will be a junior for UNC, is one of eight U.S. college players on the team, including Louie Tucker of McCook Community College, Louis Grante-Halliday of Seattle University, Dijarn Russell-Walters of East Arizona, Zamoku Weluche-Ume of George Washington, Faruq Balarade of Lake Superior State and Rory Stewart of Rhode Island.
Great Britain faces Portugal at 10 a.m. Saturday, Luxembourg at 7:30 a.m. Sunday and Hungary at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday in pool play. The quarterfinals are Friday, July 14, with the semifinals Saturday, July 15 and the championship on Sunday, July 16.
Okonkwo led the Mountaineers in blocks last season with 22, shooting 57.4% from the floor. He played 340 minutes in 31 games and scored 42 points.
Date | Month/day | Score | Opponent/event (current ranks) | Record |
---|---|---|---|---|
October | ||||
27 | Friday | W, 117–53 | vs. St. Augustine’s | Exhibition |
November | ||||
6 | Monday | W, 86–70 | vs. Radford | 1–0 |
12 | Sunday | W, 90–68 | vs. Lehigh | 2–0 |
17 | Friday | W, 77–52 | vs. UC Riverside | 3–0 |
Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas | ||||
22 | Wednesday | W, 91–69 | Northern Iowa | 4–0 |
23 | Thursday | L, 83–81, OT | Villanova | 4–1 |
24 | Friday | W, 87–72 | Arkansas | 5–1 |
ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge | ||||
29 | Wednesday | W, 100–92 | vs. No. 6 Tennessee | 6–1 |
December | ||||
2 | Saturday | W, 78–70 | vs. Florida State | 7–1, 1–0 ACC |
Jimmy V Classic in New York | ||||
5 | Tuesday | L, 87–67 | No. 1 Connecticut | 7–2 |
CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta | ||||
16 | Saturday | L, 87–83 | No. 12 Kentucky | 7–3 |
Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte | ||||
20 | Wednesday | W, 81–69 | Oklahoma | 8–3 |
————————— | ||||
29 | Friday | W, 105–60 | vs. Charleston Southern | 9–3 |
January | ||||
2 | Tuesday | W, 70–57 | at Pittsburgh | 10–3, 2–0 ACC |
6 | Saturday | W, 65–55 | at Clemson | 11–3, 3–0 ACC |
10 | Wednesday | W, 67–54 | at N.C. State | 12–3, 4–0 ACC |
13 | Saturday | W, 103–67 | vs. Syracuse | 13–3, 5–0 ACC |
17 | Wednesday | W, 86–70 | vs. Louisville | 14–3, 6–0 ACC |
20 | Saturday | W, 76–66 | vs. Boston College | 15–3, 7–0 ACC |
22 | Monday | W, 85–64 | vs. Wake Forest | 16–3, 8–0 ACC |
27 | Saturday | W, 75–68 | at Florida State | 17–3, 9–0 ACC |
30 | Tuesday | L, 74–73 | at Georgia Tech | 17–4, 9–1 ACC |
February | ||||
3 | Saturday | W, 93–84 | vs. No. 13 Duke | 18–4, 10–1 ACC |
6 | Tuesday | L, 80–76 | vs. Clemson | 18–5, 10–2 ACC |
10 | Saturday | W, 75–72 | at Miami | 19–5, 11–2 ACC |
13 | Tuesday | L, 86–79 | at Syracuse | 19–6, 11–3 ACC |
17 | Saturday | W, 96–81 | vs. Virginia Tech | 20–6, 12–3 ACC |
24 | Saturday | W, 54–44 | at Virginia | 21–6, 13–3 ACC |
26 | Monday | W, 75–71 | vs. Miami | 22–6, 14–3 ACC |
March | ||||
2 | Saturday | W, 79–70 | vs. N.C. State | 23–6, 15–3 ACC |
5 | Tuesday | W, 84–51 | vs. Notre Dame | 24–6, 16–3 ACC |
9 | Saturday | W, 84–79 | at No. 13 Duke | 25–6, 17–3 ACC |
ACC tournament Washington | ||||
14 | Thursday | W, 92–67 | Quarterfinals: Florida State | 26–6 |
15 | Friday | W, 72–65 | Semifinals: Pittsburgh | 27–6 |
16 | Saturday | L, 84–76 | Final: N.C. State | 27–7 |
NCAA tournament | ||||
21 | Thursday | W, 90–62 | First round in Charlotte: Wagner | 28–7 |
23 | Saturday | W, 85–69 | Second round in Charlotte: Michigan State | 29–7 |
28 | Thursday | L, 89–87 | Sweet 16 in Los Angeles: No. 19 Alabama | 29–8 |
Key events, dates
Saturday, April 27, was the deadline for players to submit their names to the NBA draft
Wednesday was the deadline for players to enter the transfer portal
Next Saturday and Sunday — NBA G League Elite Camp in Chicago
May 12–19 — NBA Combine in Chicago
May 17–19 — Evaluation for high school players at NCAA-certified events (EYBL in Indianapolis is one of those)
May 29 at 11:59 p.m. — Deadline to withdraw from NBA draft and maintain college eligibility
June 16 at 5 p.m. — Deadline to withdraw from the NBA draft
UNC schedule so far
Nov. 8 — at Kansas (final AP rank No. 20; final NET ranking No. 19)
Nov. 22 — at Hawaii (final NET ranking No. 172)
Nov. 25–27 — Maui Invitational — Auburn (final AP rank No. 18; final NET ranking No. 5), Colorado (unranked; No. 25), Connecticut (No. 1; No. 2), Dayton (No. 24; No. 23), Iowa State (No. 8; No. 6), Memphis (unranked; No. 75), Michigan State (unranked; No. 24)
Dec. 14 — vs. La Salle (final NET ranking No. 195)
Likely in late November — Opponent TBA in ACC/SEC Challenge
December — vs. UCLA (final NET ranking No. 107) in CBS Sports Classic (date, location TBA)
December — vs. Florida (final NET ranking No. 29) in Jumpman Invitational at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center (date TBA)
— Games home and away against Duke, N.C. State and Pittsburgh
— Home games vs. Boston College, California, Georgia Tech, Miami, SMU, Stanford and Virginia
— Road games vs. Clemson, Florida State, Louisville, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest
Note: 2024 NCAA tournament teams are in bold.
2024-25 UNC roster so far
No. | Class | Player | Pos. | Hgt | Wgt |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
— | Freshman | James Brown (4 star) | 5 | 6–8 | 225 |
— | Freshman | Ian Jackson (5 star) | 2 | 6–4 | 180 |
— | Freshman | Drake Powell (5 star) | 2 | 6–5 | 185 |
3 | Soph. | Elliot Cadeau | PG | 6–1 | 180 |
1 | Soph. | Zayden High | 4 | 6–9 | 225 |
— | Junior | Cade Tyson | 3 | 6–7 | 203 |
13 | Junior | Jalen Washington | 5 | 6–10 | 230 |
0 | Junior | Seth Trimble | 2 | 6–3 | 195 |
5 | Graduate | RJ Davis | PG | 6–0 | 180 |
24 | Graduate | Jae’Lyn Withers | 4 | 6–9 | 215 |
Photo via @WVUhoops
1 Comment