It’s No Longer Foreign to Him : Ime Oduok Understands Basketball Now and He’s Paying Off in Big Way at Loyola

College basketball coaches spend untold days and nights trying to woo recruits, only to see them sometimes turn elsewhere.

Occasionally, though, players fall into coaches’ laps.

That’s the experience of Loyola Marymount Coach John Olive, who didn’t have to travel halfway around the world, or even across town, to find his starting center and most productive player.

Ime Oduok (e-MAY o-DWOK), a 6-foot-9, 240-pound junior from Eket, Nigeria, came halfway around the world to him.

Oduok arrived on the Loyola campus to play in pickup games in the summer of 1992. He was unpolished, unschooled in the game’s subtleties and, worse, already enrolled at tiny Pacific Christian College in Fullerton.

“He was just a raw kid who maybe could make it,” Olive said.

Only three years earlier, when he was 16, Oduok had given up soccer and taken up basketball at the insistence of a relative, a businessman who learned of the on-court accomplishments of another Nigerian, Hakeem Olajuwon of the Houston Rockets, during a trip to the United States.

Oduok, who had never heard of his famous countryman, spent about a year learning to dribble and shoot. And then, after joining a team, he had to play barefoot on the outdoor concrete courts because size-18 basketball shoes could not be found to fit him.

“I had bumps all over my feet,” he said. “It was a terrible experience. But I wouldn’t let anything stop me. Ever since I was told to go into basketball, I always said I was going to do this no matter what.

“And that was my first building block, so I had to play regardless.”

After graduating from high school in 1991, Oduok and younger sisters Uduak, Mary and Unwan were brought to the United States by their mother, Emo Ebitu. The others settled in San Jose, but Ime stayed with his father, Inyang, who lives about three blocks from the Loyola campus in Westchester.

In January 1992, he enrolled at Pacific Christian and joined the basketball team for the second half of the season.

“It’s kind of a funny story,” said Pacific Christian Coach Lee Erickson, whose team is ranked No. 1 this season among National Christian College Athletic Assn. Division II schools. “When I was called down by an admissions officer, I’d just read an article on the guy who was playing for the Kansas City Chiefs--who used to play for Azusa Pacific. The running back from Nigeria (Christian Okoye).

“And I was asked if I could come down and meet with a recruit. I said, ‘Not unless he’s 6-7 or over, and he’s from Nigeria.’ ”

To Erickson’s surprise, Oduok fit the bill but . . .

“He was very, very green,” Erickson said. “As a matter of fact, he really couldn’t dunk the ball. But he was an athlete. You could tell that very quickly.

“So, we put him in the post and tried to use his ability because he didn’t have very much knowledge about how to play the game. But he could play and he could get boards. And he had a pretty good shooting touch. From the limited play he had in Africa, he could shoot.

“He would block a lot of shots and once in a while, he’d score. He just kept getting better.”

In 17 games, Oduok averaged 7.4 points, 10.6 rebounds and 2.8 blocked shots, helping the Royals win the Western Christian Athletic Conference championship and reach the semifinals of the NCCAA Division II tournament.

He had his best game in the season finale, scoring 22 points and taking 23 rebounds against San Jose Christian College in the third-place game at the national tournament.

“Of course, he wanted to know why we weren’t playing somebody like Seton Hall or Georgetown,” Erickson said. “He didn’t really understand the structure.”

When he did, Oduok wanted to move to a major college. And after holding his own against major-college players in pickup games at Loyola the following summer, he walked into Olive’s office and asked the coach if he had any scholarships available.

Olive told him that he did and, after watching him play, offered him one.

“He was absolutely raw, had no idea how to play the game, but he had good athletic instincts besides being physically gifted with his size,” Olive said. “At the very worst, we felt that he would be an interior defensive presence who could rebound and block shots.

“But he had no sense of offense. That’s where he has really come along much more quickly than I would have thought possible.”

Under NCAA rules, Oduok had to return to Pacific Christian for a semester to complete his freshman year before transferring to Loyola.

After sitting out a year, he joined the Lions last December and moved into the starting lineup almost immediately.

In his sixth major college game, he had 15 points and 22 rebounds in a 93-77 victory over Buffalo. He had 18 points and 10 rebounds against Pepperdine, and 19 points, 11 rebounds and five blocked shots against Cal State Sacramento.

Although prone to foul trouble, he started 18 of 23 games and ended the season with averages of 7.6 points and 7.5 rebounds. He made 56% of his shots and was second in the West Coast Conference with 39 blocked shots.

But he lacked consistency.

“Last season, he probably felt like a record on speed 78,” Olive said. “Everything was probably buzzing around him. He couldn’t get comfortable. He was in foul trouble constantly. But the games that he was able to stay out of foul trouble and play well, we did well.”

This season, Oduok has kept his fouls to a minimum and Loyola, which plays Washington tonight at Gersten Pavilion, is 5-1, its best start in five years.

Oduok is averaging 14.8 points and 12 rebounds and has made 58.9% of his shots. The only negative has been his 41.1% free-throw shooting. He had a career-high 27 points and 16 rebounds against Notre Dame but made only 11 of a school-record 23 free throws, a major factor in the Lions losing the game in overtime.

Still, three players fouled out trying to contain him.

“We couldn’t handle him,” Irish Coach John MacLeod said.

It’s not so easy anymore, despite his rudimentary skills.

“He’s in the flow of the game,” Olive said. “Last year, so often he just wasn’t in the flow. He just wasn’t comfortable. I think the biggest adjustment is, he has gotten very comfortable in a game he knew very little about.

“The second thing he’s improved on dramatically is his offensive game, which is still pretty crude. We’ve worked on very simple things. We’ve worked on one move over his right shoulder and one move over his left shoulder in the low post.

“He drop-steps very well either way and now has a little jump hook over his left shoulder, which he had no idea how to shoot two years ago. He’s worked very hard.”

How far has he come?

“Oh, miles,” Olive said. “I never would have thought that he would be where he is today. But how could you ever guess? You never know how quickly someone’s going to learn. But Ime’s so bright. He’s a real quick study.”

Oduok, an accounting major, said his improved numbers this season are the result of experience and a strong belief in himself.

“I’ve gained a better understanding of the basic concepts of the game,” he said. “I believe that I can dominate and really stand out, and so I try to put that belief in action by trying to play with a sense of confidence. (A few years ago,) I wasn’t so aware of what was going on.”

Oduok, who made 62.9% of his free throws last season, is aware that his shooting from the foul line must improve if the Lions are to continue to be successful.

After missing two free throws with 16.7 seconds to play in regulation against Notre Dame, he was the last one out of the locker room.

“He just sat there with his head down for probably half an hour,” Olive said. “I think he took it pretty personal, as a number of kids did. He’s very competitive, very sensitive, very proud. He takes a lot of pride in everything he does.”

And so it is that, despite his progress, Oduok still sees much room for improvement.

“I haven’t really felt relaxed, or felt my instincts take over,” he said. “I haven’t reached the point where I was in soccer. I haven’t even started yet.

“I would enjoy it better if I was able to dominate the way I would like to, but I like it that we’re winning.”

If he continues to improve, of course, so will Loyola.

And then . . . the NBA?

“If he continues to progress at the same rate, a 6-9, 240-pound athlete like that would have a chance,” Olive said.

“Will he plateau? I don’t know. My sense is that he’ll continue to improve for a while.”