Alex Oriakhi '05 To Transfer To Missouri For His Senior Season
4/23/2012
Connecticut big man and former Fessenden Varsity Basketball standout Alex Oriakhi '05, has decided to transfer to Missouri for his senior season.
The 6-foot-9, 245-pound Oriakhi will provide an instant inside presence to a Missouri team that had only one player taller than 6-8 last season but still won 30 regular season games. Oriakhi blocked 166 shots in 109 games at UConn. "Missouri needs a center, and I'm going to be the center,"
he told the Kansas City Star. "It's a perfect match." He has one year of eligibility and can play immediately because UConn is banned from next season's NCAA tournament. UConn doesn't qualify because of several years of below-standard Academic Progress Rate scores. The university had requested a waiver, arguing that recently instituted reforms have led to improved scores over the past two seasons, but the NCAA turned down that request earlier this month. Oriakhi was apparently not part of those academic woes as it was reported his GPA was 3.60, the highest on the team. Oriakhi averaged 7.2 points and 6.8 rebounds per game in three seasons at UConn, and was part of the team that won the 2011 national championship. Oriakhi chose Mizzou over Kentucky, Xavier, Duke and North Carolina. At Missouri he will be reunited with point guard Phil Pressey who he played with for a number of years locally in the Boston area with BBAC, a powerhouse AAU squad.