Texas Tech basketball: An intriguing big man transfer to watch
Texas Tech basketball fans want nothing more than for the Red Raiders to find the next Tariq Owens. The problem is that ultra-athletic 6-foot-11 players who can block shots from seemingly anywhere on the court don’t just fall out of the sky.
But one player who might remind Tech fans of Owens is EJ Onu, a 6-foot-11 center from the NAIA ranks who has recently entered the transfer portal and who has reportedly heard from the Red Raiders (according to Jonathan Givony of Draft Express).
Playing for Shawnee State this past year, Onu averaged 16.9 points and 8.1 rebounds per game helping his team capture the NAIA National Title. But what’s most stunning about his statistical line from the 2020-21 season is that, thanks to a 7-foot-6 wingspan, he averaged a whopping 4.5 blocks per game.
Another intriguing number is that Onu has more than a respectable 3-point shot. In fact, he shot 40% from beyond the arc while attempting four 3s per game.
NAIA All-American EJ Onu will explore the transfer market, he told ESPN. At 6'11, with a 7'6 wingspan, Onu will be heavily recruited after shooting 40% for 3 and averaging 4.5 blocks. Texas Tech, Indiana, Ohio State and LSU have already expressed interest https://t.co/ek8avigpBJ
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) April 30, 2021
It is being reported that Onu has heard from Indiana, LSU, Ohio State, and other programs in addition to Tech. That’s because big men with his combination of athleticism, shooting, and physical size don’t come around all that often.
Like so many other players in the transfer portal, Onu has also entered the NBA Draft pool but has not hired an agent. But given the level of competition he has faced in his college career, it might do him some good to spend a year at the Division I level (he has only one year of eligibility remaining) before turning pro.
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A three-time Mid-South Conference Defensive Player of the Year, Onu could help bring the type of rim protection to the court that the Red Raiders have been lacking since Owens set the single-season school record for blocks with 92 in 2018-19.
That year, Tech set an all-time record in the KenPom.com defensive efficiency rating (a measure of how many points a team surrenders per 100 possessions on average). In 2018-19, with Owens anchoring the defense, Tech gave up just 84.1 points per 100 possessions. Since then, that number has risen to 90.5 in 2019-20 and 90.9 this past season.
While not all of the difference can be attributed to the absence of a Tariq Owens clone in the middle of the defense, it has certainly been a huge factor. In fact, it would be tough to deny that Tech’s lack of a true shot-blocker in the paint has been the team’s greatest defensive liability in the last two seasons.
Onu is a Cleveland native who has been playing his college ball in Ohio. Thus, one might wonder if Ohio State has the early edge in this recruiting race.
Still, Texas Tech basketball fans should continue to monitor this intriguing big man. That’s because he is exactly the type of physical presence that Mark Adams and the Red Raiders desperately want to add to the roster this offseason.