Athlete of the Week: Okolie Scores 17 Points in 15 Minutes

Basketball is not about the quantity of minutes played, but rather the quality of those minutes.

Reserve sophomore forward Agunwa Okolie only logged 15 minutes in the Harvard men’s basketball team’s win against Fordham on Saturday, but it was how he used those minutes that earned him Athlete of the Week honors.

Despite starting the game on the bench, the second-year player notched a career-high 17 points to go along with six rebounds at Rose Hill Gym in the Bronx to help lead the Crimson to its seventh straight win, 94-86.

“We knew that this was going to be a very hard game this quickly after the Christmas break,” Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said. “So I’m pleased with our guys and the effort they gave.”

Okolie’s dunk with less than two minutes remaining in the game put the exclamation point on the sophomore’s night. The 6’8” forward used his size to make his presence known on the inside, tallying eight points in the paint to help give the Crimson an eight-point victory.

“[Okolie] was tremendous,” Amaker said. “He’s long, rangy [and] athletic.”

The Rams were neck-and-neck with Harvard through the first ten minutes, swapping the lead five times in that span. With the score knotted at 23 with 9:08 remaining in the first half, Amaker sent in Okolie for his first appearance of the game. His impact was immediate. In just four minutes on the floor, Okolie knocked down a pair of free throws and a layup to help spur a 10-2 run to give the Crimson a lead it would not relinquish the rest of the game.

“I think that’s been one of the keys to our team, our bench, and our balance.” Amaker said. “Different guys have been able to step forward for us and give us quality minutes.”

As the Harvard lead dwindled to seven with just four minutes remaining in the contest, Okolie came back into the game and went out of his comfort zone to give the Crimson the cushion it needed to help pull off the victory. The lanky forward drained his first three-point attempt of the year to help extend Harvard’s lead back into the double digits.

Okolie had reentered the game early in the second half to help fend off a pesky Fordham team that would not go away easily. Exploiting the Crimson’s advantage on the inside, the forward ripped off six straight points for Harvard to help extend its lead to ten points before coming off with just under ten minutes remaining.

Okolie was nearly perfect on the day from the field, hitting six of his seven shots. On the one attempt he missed, he quickly grabbed the offensive board and finished at the rim.

“I think that even the game before this one you’re starting to see signs of growth and confidence,” Amaker said of Okolie. “Certainly today was just about as good as you can expect for the kind of production in 15 minutes of play.”