"As a person, he’s probably the most humble person I know," Onyema's former teammate said. rode to one of the most successful seasons in school with Terry being named Sporting News National Coach of the Year while leading the Longhorns to a No. 23 road win over Florida International before recording his second double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds in a road loss to a Final Four-bound Florida Atlantic squad.Īlong with his on-court production, Texas has added a transfer who is capable of helping foster a culture Terry and Co. Onyema put together another run of five games in a row reaching double figures in scoring, including a season-high 19 points in a Feb. 28, but he made it count with 11 points and six rebounds in a road loss to North Texas, a club that ended the season by winning the NIT. ![]() Onyema didn’t reach double digits in the scoring column again until Jan. Onyema scored in double figures in each of the Miners’ first five games, including a 10-point, 10-rebound double-double in a home win over Alcorn State on Nov. 7 in the first regular-season game ever played at the Longhorns’ home arena. "He has the ability to play back to the basket and face up while protecting the rim on defense."Ī bonus to adding Onyema to the mix is the fact that he’s taken the Moody Center floor before, scoring 10 points, grabbing two rebounds and recording one steal in the Longhorns’ 72-57 season-opening win over UTEP on Nov. "I think he’s a very underrated player all around," one of Onyema's former teammates told Horns247. Onyema has two seasons of eligibility remaining, which is a huge plus for a program set to lose Disu and Brock Cunningham after the coming season Oneyma joins Shedrick (two seasons of eligibility left) and rising sophomore Alex Anamekwe as frontcourt players who even have the option of returning for the 2024-25 campaign. 17 overall in the 247Sports Transfer Portal rankings) along with Dylan Disu choosing to return to school for one more season has gone a long way toward solidifying things up front from the standpoint of both quality and quantity.Īs an athletic, rim-running forward who can protect the basket on defense, Onyema could play a role similar to the one Bishop occupied this past season when he averaged 6.6 points and 3.7 rebounds per game while playing an average of 17.1 minutes per outing to help the Longhorns finish the season with 29 wins before suffering a season-ending loss to Miami in the Elite Eight. Nevertheless, getting a commitment out of the transfer portal from Virginia’s Kadin Shedrick ( No. 1 overall high school prospect in the country in the 2023 cycle - opening up his recruitment with Arkansas and the NBA’s G League Ignite program emerging as his most likely options, Texas has had to deal with a lot of moving pieces in the frontcourt throughout the offseason. With Timmy Allen and Christian Bishop out of eligibility, Dillon Mitchell continuing to go through the process to maximize his chances to be taken as high as possible in the 2023 NBA Draft and McDonald’s All-American Ron Holland - the newly-minted No. While shooting a team-high 55.4 percent from the field and blocking a team-leading 16 shots, Onyema averaged 7.1 points and 4.4 rebounds per game while recording 19 steals and 17 assists. Onyema enjoyed his best collegiate season as a redshirt sophomore, logging 31 starts while averaging 20.1 minutes per game. ![]() The 6-foot-8, 230-pound Onyema committed to and signed with the Miners in 2020 when Terry was in charge of the program, playing in five games during the 2020-21 season, which was Terry’s last in El Paso before he returned to Texas as associate head coach under former coach Chris Beard. ![]() Onyema visited Vanderbilt before heading to Texas, but the Longhorns won out, meaning Onyema will be reunited with Terry. Onyema began his official visit to the Forty Acres on Tuesday and wrapped things up on Wednesday, the same day Weaver began his official visit. A matter of minutes after UT-Arlington transfer guard Chendall Weaver went public with his commitment to Texas on Thursday, the Longhorns landed their second prospect of the day from the NCAA transfer portal when former UTEP forward Ze'Rik Onyema made his public declaration to join head coach Rodney Terry’s program for the 2023-24 season.
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