Ugonna Onyenso, a big (7’0”, 247) center, who was a four-star, Top 50 recruit out of high school, but hasn’t done much in his three seasons at the college level, at Kentucky and Kansas State, is headed to the UVA Basketball program, via the transfer portal.
Onyenso’s counting numbers at the college level won’t get you excited, at first glance – in 64 games across his three seasons at UK and K State, he’s averaged 3.0 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.6 blocked shots in 12.9 minutes per game.
Actually, that blocked shots number should get you excited – that translates to 5.0 blocks per 40 minutes.
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Onyenso would more likely be in line to get 15-20 minutes in the 2025-2026 rotation for new coach Ryan Odom, who picked up a center from Germany, 6’11”, 235-pound Johann Grünloh, who can shoot it and protect the rim, earlier this week, to pair with 6’7”, 225-pound power forward Devin Tillis, who averaged 13.7 points and 7.8 rebounds per game at UC-Irvine last season.
Tillis and Grünloh are your starters and 30-minutes-a-game guys at the four and five spots.
Onyenso projects as a solid depth guy in the frontcourt with his ability to protect the rim and also rebound the basketball – his per-40 number is 10.4 boards.
If Onyenso, who tested the NBA Draft waters after transferring out of Kentucky before landing at Kansas State last spring, can give Odom five points, five boards and two or three blocks in 20 minutes, we’ll take that and run.
I like a three-man frontcourt rotation of Grünloh, Tillis and Onyenso, with a few minutes here and there, as needed, from the group of VCU transfer Martin Carrere, a 6’8”, 200-pound stretch four from France who shot 41.9 percent from three in seven games with the French national U-18 team last summer, 6’9”, 235-pound former Vanderbilt transfer Carter Lang, and Silas Barksdale, a 6’8”, 225-pound three-star former VCU recruit from Newport News.
I keep saying it, but the roster is shaping up well.
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Chris Graham
