Improved Wyoming center a force to be reckoned with

Wyoming at Rebels

When: Thursday, 7:35 p.m.

Radio: KXNT, 840 AM

He may have been a secret before the season started. But the cat has long since been let out of the bag.

By now, everyone knows about Ugo Udezue, Wyoming's star center and the Western Athletic Conference's most improved player.

Last year, Udezue (pronounced oo-DEZ-oo-way) was a backup player for Larry Shyatt, averaging just 3.5 points while focusing on rebounding and playing defense. Under Steve McClain, Udezue has taken the wraps off his considerable offensive talent and is averaging a team-high 17.9 points and 7.9 rebounds for the 11-5 Cowboys.

How good has Ugo gotten? Those who attend Thursday's game with 11-7 UNLV at the Thomas & Mack Center will find out. So too, may Kaspars Kambala, UNLV's own import center from Latvia, who faces a formidable challenge at both ends of the floor from the 6-foot-8, 237-pound sophomore from Anambra, Nigeria.

"I think he's thrived in their system," UNLV coach Bill Bayno said of Udezue's newfound offensive freedom. "I've always loved his work ethic."

Udezue went through a similar transformation in high school.

When he came to the U.S. from Nigeria and enrolled at Redemption Christian Academy in upstate New York, he didn't get a chance to shoot much. He spent more time answering questions about how many lions he had killed in Africa (he says the only lion he saw in Africa was at the zoo) than how many shots he took.

At the time, Redemption had a guy named Lamar Odom and he was getting the majority of the shots. So after a less-than-scintillating indoctrination to American prep hoops, Udezue moved to Maryland and became a star at Riverdale Baptist, where he averaged 26.3 points, 24.1 rebounds and 6.2 blocked shots.

McClain recalls reading in the Wyoming media guide how Udezue scored 26 a game in high school. He figured the kid had to have some offensive skills.

"I don't care where you're playing. If you can average that many points, you're a scorer," McClain said. "I told Ugo that I thought he could be one of our leading scorers."

Fortunately for McClain and Wyoming, Udezue believed the new coach. He had liked Shyatt very much, both as a coach and a person. And when Shyatt left for Clemson last spring, the fear was Udezue would follow his coach to South Carolina.

Instead, he stayed in Laramie, which is about as far from Nigeria as one can get.

"It's different," Udezue said of leaving a big city of 200,000 for the wide-open spaces of the frontier West. "On the East Coast where I was in high school, they were telling me stories about how people rode horses and had guns in Wyoming.

"But I haven't seen any horses down the streets of Laramie. Not yet, anyway."

And while Udezue misses his family back in Nigeria, he has goals he wants to accomplish. One is staying in the States and continuing to develop his game. He has been here since he was 16, and while his English has a clipped accept to it, he speaks flawlessly.

"I would like to play professionally and represent my country and be a positive model," he said. "I hope to someday go home with honor and be in a position to do something for my people."

He has a couple of good role models in Hakeem Olajuwon and Michael Olowokandi -- two Nigerian imports who have made an impact on the sport. Udezue's rapid development has a striking parallel to Olowokandi's leap forward at Pacific between his sophomore and junior seasons.

And if Udezue needs added motivation, he takes the advice of his father, George.

The elder Udezue told the parable of how while poor men are sleeping, great men are awake making things happen. His son puts in extra hours on the court, believing that it will pay off in the end, the way it did for Olajuwon and Olowokandi.

The extra work he put in over the summer has paid immediate dividends. He lost more than 20 pounds of fat and is looking to replace the fat with muscle and get back to 255 pounds.

He also is learning how to really play the game at this level.

That means dealing with double-team tactics, using his footwork developed from years of playing soccer as a midfielder in Nigeria to his advantage on the basketball court.

He also needs to develop an understanding for the game which will allow him to compete at the next level, should his physical skills continue to develop.

"He's such a coachable kid," McClain said. "He wants to be good. As a coach, you love having the opportunity to work with someone like that."

McClain said Udezue is still an inside player at this point of his development. But there's plenty of time to develop a 15-18 foot jump shot to go with his post moves.

"He scores on the block -- that's where I want him to score," McClain said. "We'll try to evolve Ugo as a perimeter player over the summer."

And Udezue must score if the Cowboys are to be successful for the long haul.

With guard Anthony Blakes, who was averaging 16.5 points over his last eight games, out for the next two weeks with a stress fracture in his foot, teams are paying even more attention to Udezue. Yet, Wyoming can't afford for Udezue to have too many off-nights.

"He's our whole key," McClain said. "If he doesn't score, we're going to struggle."

Udezue isn't too concerned about being the focal point of everyone's attention.

"Right now, there's no pressure on me. I'm still learning," he said. "Every game, every practice is a new experience for me.

"It's a lot of fun to play the way we play now," Udezue said of Wyoming's wide-open offense which is generating 82.4 points a game compared to last year's average of 63.8. "When Coach McClain told me I'd be more involved in the offense, I believed him. Since I met him, I have never doubted him."

Anyone who doubted whether Udezue could play before now should no longer have any questions.

Hoop du jour The road has not been kind to many WAC teams and Wyoming is no exception. The Cowboys are winless in three tries in Mountain Division play headed into Thursday's game at the Thomas & Mack Center and McClain's not sure why. "We don't act any differently," he said. "We just haven't played as well. But if you look at the teams at the top of the standings, you'll see the schedule favors them at home." ... Wyoming comes into Thursday's game losers in three of its last five, the most recent a 91-83 loss at Colorado State last Saturday. This is the second of three straight on the road for the Cowboys. The trip ends Saturday at Air Force. Wyoming has won just once in six tries in Las Vegas and UNLV leads the overall series 8-6.

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