STANFORD, Calif. — Dating back to his early prep school days, Ebuka Okorie has always been mature beyond his years. Cushing head coach James Cormier once said that even as a true eighth grader, Okorie held his own against players four and five years older because of his high IQ and feel for the game. Eventually, the point guard’s physical attributes caught up to make him a high-major recruit.
Now a freshman at Stanford, the theme is continuing for Okorie. Despite the Nashua, N.H. native’s youth, he’s thriving – and he looks like he’ll be an impact player in his first college season.
“He’s consistent every day. It’s hard to do as a freshman,” Stanford head coach Kyle Smith said after a recent practice. “I mean, he’s been consistent to where I can coach him really hard. If he dips a little bit, you can give him a little, he responds well.”
Could Okorie – last year’s New Hampshire Boys Gatorade Player of the Year and a standout at Brewster Academy and BABC – even start as a freshman? It’s not out of the question.
“I see him playing 20 minutes a game, which is really a lot for a true freshman,” Smith said. “I would love it if he was coming off the bench, but he may be too good not to (start). There’s such a learning curve about everything, but everything is pointing in the right direction. …
“He’s such a good fit. … He’s a pretty good two-way player for a young guy, he’s gotta learn how to play harder and get stronger and that comes with maturity and the weight room and stuff like that. But as far as his ability to play both guard positions and give us a guy that can contribute at this level as a freshman, it's pretty impressive.”
During a recent trip to the west coast, I stopped by a Stanford practice to see Okorie, who looks really good; he made several plays on both ends and looked comfortable leading the Cardinal’s offense. After practice, I caught up with him for a Q&A. We chatted about his transition to Stanford, his expectations for this season and more. We also went back down memory lane to talk about his roots in New England and favorite moments playing in the region. That included his relationship with Duke freshman Sebastian Wilkins, his teammate with Brewster last season who he’ll play against this season in the ACC.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. Let’s dive in.
What’s the transition to Stanford been like? How much fun are you having out here?
“The adjustment has been really good. In the summer, I wouldn’t say I started out slow, but it was definitely a big adjustment. Early on, I realized I needed to get my weight up, just get used to the college game and the speed of the game. I feel like I’m adjusting pretty well, just learning as much as I can each practice, listening to my coaches and just putting in extra work outside of practice as well, and it’s really helping my game improve and it’s just taking me to new levels.”
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What things have been the most challenging so far?
“To be honest, I would say the main thing is the physicality. Early on I realized that sometimes on my drives, I would be getting bumped off my spot or I wouldn’t be able to get to the spots I’m normally used to getting in high school and stuff. I would say that’s the place I struggled with a little, but I would say that one thing that helped me, especially going to prep school (was) with just the college schedule and how you have to really manage your time really well, and I feel like going to prep school really helped me with that.”
What are your expectations for this season? What kind of impact do you think you can make as a freshman?
“Honestly, I’m just trying to do whatever I can to help the team win. I’ll just take it game by game and just every single game, I’m just going to go in and try to help my team win. Whatever that is, whether it’s scoring, passing, playing defense, just whatever it is.”
What do you like about the fit with this team and what excites you about being with this group?
“I really like the group. We bond really well, but there’s also a competitive factor. Like in practice we go really hard, and I feel like that’s what’s helping us improve at a pretty good rate. Our team has a lot of depth and I’m just looking forward to the season.”
What has college been like? Campus life, not even basketball, what’s it been like being on the west coast?
“It’s really fun. The first week and a half I was out here before we started classes, it was really fun because obviously no school and I’d just be hanging out with teammates. There are a lot of freshman events; (you) get to meet other athletes, other incoming students. It’s just really fun meeting new people, obviously a lot of smart people here and people from different backgrounds, so it’s cool to talk to different people and see their different perspectives.”
How did your experiences in New England basketball — including Brewster, Cushing and BABC — help prepare you for Stanford?
“My background, obviously going to prep school when I was 14 years old, sort of getting thrown into the fire early, I feel like that really helped me a lot, just at a young age playing with older guys, postgrads, all that. I feel like that really helped take my game to the next level and even when I transferred to Brewster, I feel like that helped me take another leap in my game. And also just learning from my different AAU coaches and different teams I played for, getting different perspectives from different coaches was really helpful and was really key in my development.”
You played for Team New England, Mass Rivals and then BABC. Any stories playing for Vin Pastore (Rivals) or Leo Papile (BABC)?
“Just the way they coach, they’ll get on you but you can’t view it as if they don’t like you. Obviously they’re trying to win at the end of the day; everyone’s just trying to win. So I feel like that really helped me mature in the aspect of being able to take hard criticism from Leo or Vin or whoever. … I would just say it helped me to take criticism and be adaptable.”
What memories or experiences do you have with Cushing and Brewster with how they helped you?
“At Cushing, since I was younger and just new to prep school and all that, they really helped build my basketball IQ, just learning different concepts, just X’s and O’s, that really helped my game early on. And then Coach (Jason) Smith (at Brewster), a big thing he helped me with is consistency like every practice, getting up a lot of shots, that really helped me take my shooting to the next level, and obviously the competition. Even off the court, both of them were very personable and I could reach out to them off the court. I enjoyed playing for them.”
Do you have any memories or moments that stick out to you throughout your high school career?
“All the trips with Brewster, traveling with all the guys, stuff like that. I remember at Cushing, we never won the NEPSAC tournament, but just all the teams I played for, there’s countless guys I still talk to to this day. I built a lot of good bonds. My freshman year, we had a holiday tournament at Cushing that we won. At Brewster, we won so many games, so all the weekends were just so much fun.”
Do you have any favorite battles with any guys in New England?
“A really cool game was my sophomore year when Sebastian (Wilkins) was at Lawrence Academy and I was at Cushing. I’m not going to say we went into the game careless, but we were kind of joking around before the game because his team wasn’t that good. It ended up being a close game at halftime and Cormier got on us, and we turned it up in the second half. That was cool because I was playing with him on Mass Rivals the season before and obviously ended up being teammates at Brewster and everything. That was just a cool memory and we still talk about it to this day.”
How underrated do you think New England basketball is? Does it get the credit it deserves?
“I feel like it’s definitely underrated. It depends on the players each year, but I definitely would say it’s underrated, especially my grade and the people around my grade. I feel like competing with them, just countless guys, just competing with them also took my game to another level. The people you’re competing with are just going to help you get better.”
