Ovie Soko began his basketball career 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean in London, England. Growing up in the UK, his first love was soccer, but he realized before long that basketball may be in his future after hitting a growth spurt. So Soko decided to enter high school in the states as a junior to develop his basketball game. He will now go down in history as a 1,000-point scorer, reaching the mark last Saturday afternoon in a game at Rhode Island.
Soko mounted a 19-point, 12-rebound effort in a 12-point win for his team, but the game will always be overshadowed by the milestone, which he reached on the second of two free throws with under two minutes left in the first half. Certainly, Soko must be happy with his decision to give up soccer and focus on basketball.
That decision has taken the versatile, 6′-8″ power forward on a thrilling, momentous journey that is still showing signs of a promising future.
Soko played his high school basketball first at Hampton Roads Academy in southern Virginia, followed by a season at Bethel High School, also in Hampton Roads, Va. In his senior season at Bethel, Soko averaged 14.5 points, while leading his team to a 23-4 record. He was named second team All-Peninsula District at the end of the season, in addition to a McDonald’s All-American nomination and two-star ranking by Scout.com. His high school stats garnered him the attention of some prime basketball programs — including Missouri, Providence and Michigan. In the end, he chose UAB – Soko later hinted at the fact that he wanted a place where he could make more of a difference. That is a large reason why he chose to transfer to Duquesne for his final season of eligibility, even though he could have chosen a much more prominent school, like Marquette, who also showed interest.
But “Agent Zero’s” British citizenship has opened up some unique opportunities for him in his career. The biggest of these opportunities was the chance to compete for his home country in the summer of 2010 at the FIBA Under-20 European Championships. The event was hosted in Austria that year, and Soko led his British team to a record finish of sixth place. In addition, Soko led the squad with 19.1 points per game.
Soko was also named to the Great Britain Futures team in May of 2012, just a month before enrolling at Duquesne. His prominence as a basketball star in his home country has garnered him some attention back in the UK, and gbbasketball.com was quick to report his landmark 1,000th point. Luol Deng, the most famous NBA star from Great Britain, also posted Soko’s mark on his website.
In a country where the main sport will always be soccer, basketball fans know No. 0 for the Dukes quite well. Soko’s time on the British Under-20 national team couldn’t have come at a better moment in his career. His summer in Austria came after his freshman season at UAB, a season where he saw limited time on the court and provided only marginal contributions to his team. All of that changed the following season, when Soko returned as a much-improved, more mature sophomore. The international competition seasoned his game, and he started in 29 games for the Blazers. He ranked second on the team in rebounding, while averaging just over nine points per game.
Soko was a major force in his junior season as well, with eight double-doubles and 13 double digit games, although he only averaged eight points per game – one less than the previous season. However, coaching changes following his junior year made Soko decide to switch schools, as UAB got rid of then-head coach Mike Davis, who recruited Soko in high school. His career as a collegiate athlete was extended for a season by NCAA regulations, which forced him to sit out a year on Duquesne’s bench. But the talented forward, who has six games left in his collegiate career, is having a breakout season. His 18.4 points per game is more than double his averages for each of his last two seasons at UAB.
Soko has only scored fewer than 10 points in two of 23 games so far this year. He is also approaching another milestone mark, but this time it is a Duquesne school record. Soko’s ability to get to the free throw line, which is the cornerstone of his game, has brought him close to the school record for free throw attempts in a single season, set in 1955-56.
Photo Credit: Duquesne Athletics
