STARKVILLE — It’s scary to think how good Chinwe Okorie can be if she is growing every day.
That’s how the Mississippi State sophomore center feels about her development in the first two months of her college career. Considering Okorie is a 6-foot-5 presence in the paint who has the length and strength of a prototypical center, there’s no telling what kind of impact she will be able to have on the game after she gains experience and polishes her shooting touch.
“This is a kid that has not played a lot of basketball,” MSU coach Vic Schaefer said. “She has come a ways but still has so long a ways to go. She started at ground zero. She is a work in progress. We’re not going to see her full development for maybe another year or two, but she is coming. She is doing fine. She is learning the game. The thing about it is the kid wants to please. When you have kids like that want to please, that want to work hard, the sky is the limit. Her upside is nowhere in sight. It is way out there.”
For now, though, Okorie is focused on honing her shooting skills around the rim and learning every day. Despite her inexperience, Okorie has played a key role in No. 21 MSU’s program-record 12-0 start to the season. She has started all 12 games and is averaging 6.2 points and a team-best 6.8 rebounds per game. Her long reach and her size and strength has helped her grab 48 of her 81 rebounds on the offensive end. Okorie’s prowess is one reason MSU is No. 1 in the Southeastern Conference in scoring (87.2 ppg), offensive rebounds (20.3 per game), and offensive rebounding percentage (46.9).
MSU will look to extend that winning streak at 9:30 p.m. Saturday when it takes on Illinois-Chicago in its first game at the Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic. MSU also will take on Miami University at 4 p.m. Sunday.
Okorie is coming off a season-low eight minutes Wednesday in MSU’s 66-51 victory against Louisiana-Lafayette. Okorie didn’t attempt a field goal and had one rebound, one turnover, and one blocked shot in her least productive outing of the season.
That performance came on the heels of an 11-point, eight-rebound effort in a 104-41 victory against Mississippi Valley State on Monday at Humphrey Coliseum. Seven of Okorie’s rebounds came on the offensive end, but she was only 4 of 10 shooting from the field.
“I am not going to stop working,” Okorie said. “I expect a lot form myself, and I know my teammates do, as well as my coaches, so I will not stop working to that development.
“I just want to keep working hard and keep going hard and growing stronger as a better player.”
Okorie arrived at MSU last year as a member of a nationally ranked recruiting class. Originally from Lagos, Nigeria, Okorie had a standout 2012-13 season at Stoneleigh-Burnham School in Greenfield, Massachusetts. Okorie averaged 15 points and 15 rebounds a game, but she had to adjust to the level of competition when she arrived at MSU.
Unfortunately, Okorie had to make that transition in practice. NCAA initial eligibility issues forced Okorie to sit out her freshman season. Still, the work she did in practice with center Martha Alwal, who was a first-team All-SEC performer and the league’s co-Defensive Player of the Year, paid dividends for the Bulldogs.
This season, Okorie has had three double-digit scoring games and two double-digit rebounding games. Her efforts have helped MSU outrebound opponents by 11.1 per game (46.3-35.2).
“I think she has developed a lot since she she first got here,” Alwal said. “When she used to post up, she would get the ball and chuck it up there and it wouldn’t even touch the rim.
“Now she is making her baskets and she is doing a good job. I think when she learns the game more she is going to be really, really good. She is really strong. I think she has a true five’s body, so once she gets it all together and gets her basketball IQ a little higher, I think she is going to be really, really good.”
Even though Okorie has made an impact in her first season, she knows she has a lot of work to do to make her presence felt even more.
“It is disappointing, frustrating. It is just weakening,” Okorie said of her inability to cash in more of her offensive rebounds. “In practice, we work really hard for that. At the end of the day, I box out and then I don’t grab the rebound. It is just depressing. It really is.”
Okorie said the missed shots from point-blank range and not getting rebounds she thinks she should get motivates her. Despite her size, Okorie moves well for a post player and is one of the strongest and most athletic players on the team. Schaefer knows Okorie has so much more room to grow and is excited by what she has done so far and where she has the potential to go.
“She continues to be a force on the boards,” Schaefer said. “I have got to do a better job coaching and getting her to make those stickbacks because she is right there at the cup.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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