The story of Ugonna Onyenso landing at Virginia to work with Ryan Odom and Odom’s staff feels like one that was destined to happen for both sides.
When Odom was recruiting Onyenso, a four-star prep prospect who initially landed at Kentucky, where he got limited minutes for two years, then spent his junior year at Kansas State, where the minutes were even more limited, it was to have the seven-footer serve as a minutes-eater at center who can play D, rebound, and then play more D and rebound more.
ICYMI
“Yeah, I mean, that’s a tough question. Probably not, you know,” Odom said, answering a question from a reporter in the postgame after Tuesday’s 91-53 win over Hampton, in which Onyenso scored a game-high 18 points, on 8-of-10 shooting, 2-of-3 from three, and added 10 rebounds and four blocked shots in 18 minutes.
The question: did you foresee what you’ve been getting from Onyenso on the offensive end?
Yeah, no.
It’s only three games, but the big guy is averaging 11.0 points, 7.3 boards, 3.3 blocks and is shooting 66.7 percent.
And the threes: the two makes are the first two makes from three in his college career; coming into the 2025-2026 season at Virginia, he had attempted a grand total of one three, back during his sophomore year at Kentucky, where he averaged 3.2 points and 3.9 rebounds in 14.0 minutes per game over his two seasons there.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t produce on the offensive end at Kentucky or K State, where he averaged 2.8 points and 2.4 rebounds in 11.0 minutes last season, but that, he just wasn’t used that way.
“I showed that I could do it a little bit, but when it was time to do it at practice, I wasn’t able to do at practice, so it was like, since I couldn’t show you at practice, there’s nothing doing it in the game,” said Onyenso, citing the lack of confidence in his offensive game that he felt from his coaching staffs at UK and K State.
“The coaches were like, I’ll prefer you staying down in the post, the shot corner area, the block area. I understood it,” Onyenso said. “You know, one thing with me is, in the game of basketball, especially in college, you know, you gotta play a role, and you gotta know how to do well. That’s one thing. Most players don’t understand what you’re assigned to do, and how good can you do it? They gave me a role, and I was like, OK, if this is what you want me to do, I’ll do it.”
When he arrived at Virginia, Onyenso felt like he was starting over, with a clean slate.
“This is a new coaching staff, new program, everybody’s new, you know?” Onyenso said. “So, it’s like the summer was, like, a showcase time, you know, show what you know how to do. So, I took advantage of that. I’m like, OK, this is my last year in college. We all knew we’re all fighting for a spot, we’ve all got to show what we know how to do, so this is, like, my time to do it, you know, keep building, like, keeping confidence in myself, keep talking to myself, you know, like, I can do it, I know how to do it, so I just had to, you know, just do a little bit, just to build that confidence. And if you show what you can do, he’s gonna let you rock. That’s one thing with Coach Odom. If you show what you can do, he’s gonna let you do things.”
Translation: Ryan Odom thought he was getting a three-point, three-rebound, 12-minutes-a-game space-eater, and turns out, he and the staff have developed that guy into being a potential big-time contributor.
And Odom knows it, as evidenced by the play that led to the first made three for Onyenso, in the first half of Tuesday’s win.
Ugonna Onyenso’s first college three
Ugonna Onyenso for three. pic.twitter.com/GGM6mCwbZp
— FringeMedia (@fringedmedia) November 13, 2025
Coming out of a media timeout, Odom drew up a play that had freshman point guard Chance Mallory using a high screen from Onyenso to dribble-penetrate his way into the lane down the left block, and as the defense shifted to take away his lane to the hoop, he kicked the ball back out to Onyenso at the three-point line for the splash.
“I know how to shoot the basketball. It’s, you know, opportunity and time,” Onyenso said. “I’ve been working on my jumper all summer, you know, and I’ve also got the coaches’, what is the word, confidence behind me, like, you know, they’re encouraging me, they’re pushing me, you know, like, they’re behind me. Being able to do it all summer, you know, building the confidence in doing it, and also my teammates, they trust me, like, when they give me the ball, they trust that it’s going in. So, seeing the first one go in, I was like, man, and like, like, I was so happy to see the ball go in because, you know, I’ve waited so long for this, I’ve waited so long for this, you know.”
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Chris Graham
