Stan Okoye

Stanley "Stan" Okoye (born 1991) is a Nigerian American professional basketball player. He is a 6'6", 215-pound small forward-power forward who was named the 2012–13 Big South Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year, while playing for Virginia Military Institute (VMI). He averaged 21.5 points, 9.4 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game, en route to winning the award.

High school career
Okoye, a native of Raleigh, North Carolina, attended Knightdale High School from 2005–06 through 2008–09. During his four-year varsity career he scored over 1,300 points and grabbed over 550 rebounds, both of which are school records. Okoye also scored a single game record 42 points during a Class 4A playoff game. Knightdale won 73 games during his tenure. Despite this production on the court, only two NCAA Division I schools offered him basketball scholarships – Campbell University and VMI. Campbell rescinded their offer one day after proposing it, however, leaving Okoye with VMI as his only Division I opportunity, which he then accepted.

College career
Okoye enrolled in fall 2009 at VMI to play for the Keydets. He had initial struggles coping with college life, especially at a military school where upperclassmen put mental and physical pressures on freshmen. At one point he contemplated dropping out before having played in a single college basketball game, but Okoye stuck with it because of support from his teammates. He said, "I stuck it out because of the other guys. I figured if they could take it, I could too."

In 2009–10, Okoye led all Big South Conference freshmen in scoring and field goal percentage in overall games. In conference games, he led all freshmen in scoring, field goal percentage and blocks. For the season he averaged 14.2 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game and was named to the Big South All-Freshman Team.

As a sophomore in 2010–11, Okoye improved his averages in points, rebounds, assists and steals per game. His blocks per game dipped slightly from his freshman season, however. Okoye finished his second year with 933 career points. Okoye followed a sophomore year with a junior season that saw him claim a Second Team All-Conference selection. In Big South games he averaged 19.5 points and 8.2 rebounds per game, which were second and fourth, respectively, within the league. He led the Keydets to the Big South Tournament championship game, but they lost to UNC Asheville 80 to 64.

Okoye had a breakout senior season in 2012–13 in which he 21.5 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game. He was named the preseason conference player of the year, an honor he would then garner at the conclusion of the season as well. His scoring and rebounding averages led the Big South and was named its Player of the Week five times throughout the season. VMI lost to Charleston Southern in the conference tournament, thus ending VMI's hopes of a postseason tournament bid. Okoye finished his collegiate career with 2,146 points, 962 rebounds, 212 assists, 152 steals and 103 blocks.

Professional career
After going undrafted in the 2013 NBA draft, Okoye signed with Ikaros of the top Greek League.

Nigerian national team
Okoye has also been a member of the senior men's Nigerian national basketball team. He played at the 2013 FIBA Africa Championship.