On Campus: Huntley alum Uchenna Egekeze makes immediate splash with Calvin College

In the third college basketball game of his career, Uchenna Egekeze found himself with the ball in his hands and the clock winding down.

The play was designed for teammate Thad Shymanski to come off a screen, receive the ball and shoot.

“He wasn’t there and time was kind of running down,” said Egekeze, a Huntley graduate. “I almost wasn’t aware of the time. One of my teammates shouted at me, and that’s when I saw the shot clock.”

So Egekeze, only 82 minutes of playing time into his career at NCAA Division III Calvin College in Michigan, stepped back and launched a 3-pointer.

The shot ripped through the net to give Calvin a 75-74 victory Jan. 20 against Olivet.

“I’ve never really hit a game winner, a buzzer beater, like that,” Egekeze said. “I always wanted to have that feeling. It was pretty cool.”

The moment, however, was missing just one thing at Calvin, which is following strict COVID-19 protocols.

“The only disappointing thing we talk about, in this era, is there should have been about 3,500 fans that rushed the floor,” Calvin head coach Bill Sall said. “It was just his teammates.”

That’s about the only disappointment Sall has had this season involving Egekeze, a freshman forward who has started every game for the Knights (3-3).

“I can’t tell you how excited we are with how hard he has played,” Sall said. “As a freshman, a lot of times the offense is ahead of the defense.”

Though Egekeze is averaging 8.7 points a game, he has opened plenty of eyes with his defense. Egekeze leads the team with 11 steals and seven blocked shots while regularly matching up against the opposing team’s top perimeter player.

“That’s always something that has been strong with me, that I’ve taken pride in,” Egekeze said of his defense. “You can’t have much offense without defense. (Guarding the top player) is something I’ve always done in high school and AAU. It’s a challenge.”

Along with taking game-winning shots, Egekeze’s role has included playing on the wing and also spending time at point guard.

“I’m trying to expand my game and be as versatile as possible,” said the 6-foot-4 Egekeze, who also has helped out in the post on defense. “That’s something I feel like we all have to do, take on whatever is being thrown at us. I feel like I’m being used in a lot of different ways.”

Egekeze is filling a wing spot where Sall said the team needed to find help. While recruiting Egekeze, he was able to sell the opportunity of playing time.

“One of the many selling points of Calvin was, ‘Hey, you can come here and be impactful from the get-go,” Sall said. “The opportunity was there, but you also have to seize that opportunity. He has a very humble tone, but also has confidence in his abilities. That speaks highly of his personal traits.”

OVC’s best tip off season: The Ohio Valley Conference volleyball season begins this weekend with the top two teams – featuring two local athletes – squaring off in Jacksonville, Ala.

Defending champion Southeast Missouri and senior defensive specialist Ally Dion (Huntley) face Jacksonville (Ala.) State and junior outside hitter Addie Halverson (Richmond-Burton) on Sunday and Monday.

Dion and the Redhawks received 10 of a possible 24 first-place votes to lead the OVC preseason poll. Halverson and the Gamecocks were predicted to finish second, earning five first-place votes.

Southeast Missouri posted a 23-11 record last season as Dion ranked second on the team with 2.23 digs per set. Jacksonville State finished 20-10 last season, losing in the OVC Tournament semifinals. Halverson missed last season but posted 247 kills in 2018.

Anderson earns CCIW honor: Algonquin native Zach Anderson, a senior track and field athlete at D-III Illinois Wesleyan, was honored Tuesday as the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Field Athlete of the Week.

A graduate of Westminster Christian High School, Anderson won both the shot put and weight throw Jan. 30 at the Titan Triangular in Bloomington. His mark of 52 feet, 3 ¼ inches in the shot put currently ranks No. 1 in the conference and fourth nationally.

His weight throw of 48-2 also leads the CCIW and ranks second among all D-III athletes nationally.

· Barry Bottino writes about local college athletes for the Northwest Herald. Write to him at barryoncampus@hotmail.com and follow @BarryOnCampus on Twitter.