Yahoo Finance This walk-on forward leads UT Arlington Mavericks’ defense into Sun Belt Tournament
UT Arlington forward Kaodirichi “Kao” Akobundu-Ehiogu didn’t know anything about basketball until he watched High School Musical at age 13. Now the Lagos, Nigeria, born 21-year-old who tried to kick a basketball like a soccer ball the first time he saw one is changing the way UTA defends.
Heading into this weekend’s Sun Belt Tournament in Pensacola, Florida, coach Chris Ogden said the team will look to Akobundu-Ehiogu’s ability to defend the paint and clean up around the rim to help them win.
The No. 3 West Mavericks’ (13-12, 9-8) first game is against the No. 6 East Troy University Trojans (10-16, 4-12) Friday at 8 p.m. It will be broadcast on ESPN+.
The redshirt sophomore, in only 17 games with the Mavericks, is leading his team with 6.0 rebounds per game and 3.29 blocks per game.
“Once we started playing him more he changed our defense,” Ogden said. “Our defense went from being not very good at all to one that can be hard to score on at times.”
What makes it all the more impressive, Ogden said, is that Akobundu-Ehiogu didn’t start playing the sport until he was 13.
And at 6-foot-9 and around 190 pounds, Akobundu-Ehiogu is like a wall at the net with his 56 blocks, his coach said.
Akobundu-Ehiogu joined the Mavericks in January, at the start of the spring semester. He weighed in at around 170 pounds and was coming off a break from the sport for a foot injury he sustained during a pickup game at his last school, Southwestern Assemblies of God.
But despite spending a year away from the sport after his injury, Akobundu-Ehiogu didn’t stop training. He wanted to get to a Division I school so he focused on building new skills and strength with area trainer Tyler Relph.
“I told him I wanted to get to a D1 school, so that’s what we did,” Akobundu-Ehiogu said.
He trained one way or another almost every day with his eyes on playing for UTA.
When the COVID-19 pandemic started, Akobundu-Ehiogu realized the challenge of getting onto a D1 team was going to become that much tougher due to his inability to show off his abilities in person. He started filming his practices and workouts for more than just social media posts. He was out to impress coaches.
“We took a chance on Kao,” Ogden said. “We had to go on film and just his measurables and say lets take a chance on this guy, and I think even now as he’s just now starting to figure it out.”
That’s because Akobundu-Ehiogu didn’t start playing basketball until he was 13, when he came from Lagos to Mesquite, a suburb east of Dallas.
He’s always been athletic, but soccer and track and field were his sports before basketball. (Ask him to share a memory from high school and he’ll inevitably show you his first-ever appearance on SportsCenter’s Not Top 10 when he cleared the high jump bar, but somehow missed the mat and landed on the concrete.)
But virtually all of his other landing have been much more pleasant. In fact, one of the most exciting things about coming to America was getting to play the sport featured prominently in High School Musical.
“They were doing all these tricks and cool shots, and the crowd was just going wild, and I just knew I wanted to do that, too,” Akobundu-Ehiogu said.
After mistaking a basketball for a strange soccer ball, Kao began learning about the sport with an older cousin and started playing in middle school and went on to Southwestern Assemblies of God after graduating Poteet High School in Mesquite.
And while the Sun Belt Tournament takes priority in his mind right now, Akobundu-Ehiogu said UTA is not the final stop on his basketball journey.
He’s going to the NBA and there’s no doubt about it, he said, and his recent performance is proof.
“Everything I do is for the team right now, but it’s also all about that goal with the NBA,” Akobundu-Ehiogu said.
And he has his coach’s faith that he’ll achieve that that goal.
“I’ll never bet against him, knowing how hard he works and how much he loves it,” Ogden said. “Guys like Kao that love it and work at it usually gives themselves a chance. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit to see him in the league.”
He’s set out to challenging himself in every way, from eating serving plates piled high (most often with Nigerian food) for every meal for the calories to practically living in the gym, Ogden said.
“Sometimes we have to lock the doors to keep Kao out of the gym so he doesn’t overwork himself,” Ogden said.
That’s the hard work that got him on SportsCenter’s Top 10 on Feb. 26. The play came in their game with Arkansas State University, when a 3-point shot from guard Shahada Wells was coming up short and Kao jumped vertically, retrieving the ball and dunking on two guards.
He said the exposure will help him with his goal of reaching the NBA, but that highlight is not going to create wins in Pensacola this weekend. He’ll still show the video to anybody who will watch, but Akobundu-Ehiogu insists that said he’s not going to let the recognition of the award or the pressure of the tournament get to his head.
“If anything,” he said, “I’m more intense because it’s win or go home.”
