Breaking down Duby Okeke’s Winthrop blocked shots record
Winthrop’s loss to Radford last Saturday overshadowed Duby Okeke’s new place in the Winthrop men’s basketball record book. The redshirt junior from Jonesboro, Ga., blocked four Radford shots, claiming Winthrop’s all-time blocked shots record from Billy Houston.
Okeke said that after the game he was, “Just reflecting on how far I came from, last three years where I’ve been. It’s what I do so I’m not really expecting a ‘hooray’ and stuff like that.”
Consider this Okeke’s “hooray.”
Houston blocked 139 shots from 2003 to 2006. Okeke took his career total to 142 last Saturday. Winthrop fans are currently watching the best shot blocker in school history - and probably the second best in Xavier Cooks - and the numbers support that position.
Per game
Houston’s 139 career rejections came in 110 games (1.26 per game) over four years. Okeke’s 142 have come in 73 games (1.95).
Cooks is at 124 blocks through 75 games (1.65). He’ll likely finish his career second behind only Okeke. Josh Grant is third all-time at Winthrop with 125 blocked shots in 65 games (1.92).
Per minute
Of Winthrop’s top-four all-time shot-blockers, only Grant averaged less minutes per game than Okeke. Grant got 14 minutes per outing during a two and a third-season career.
Cooks averages nearly 27 minutes per game, the only one of the top-four to top 20 minutes per outing. Houston was at about 19 minutes per game for his roughly three and a half seasons.
Okeke is right at 15.4 minutes per game for his career, meaning he’s rejecting an opponent’s shot every 7.9 minutes of game action. Okeke showed in the second game of his college career in 2014 how effective he could be on the defensive end with three blocks in seven minutes during the Eagles’ upset win at Clemson.
Grant averaged a blocked shot every 7.3 minutes of game action.
“Great shot-blockers like Duby, they have an effect even when they’re not in the game,” said Winthrop coach Pat Kelsey after Tuesday’s two-hour practice. “People are looking for him when he’s not in the game and sometimes it effects their ability to finish at the basket even when he’s not in there.”
Nationally?
Okeke has played 38.5 percent of Winthrop’s game minutes against Division I competition so he’s short of the 40 percent required to qualify for KenPom.com’s national rankings. If Okeke were eligible, he’d be eighth nationally in blocked shot percentage - the percent of opposing team’s shots that player blocks while he’s on the court. Okeke is at 13.3 percent for the season, but in two conference games, he’s blocking 20.1 percent of opponent’s shots, easily best in the conference. Cooks is the only other Big South player topping 10 percent in conference play (14.4).
“He’s such a quick leaper,” Kelsey said about Okeke. “And he does such a good job not going for shot-fakes. The moment the ball gets released he springs up and gets the ball at the height of his jump.”
Ups and downs
Okeke had at least one blocked shot in 30 of 32 games last season, but he’s already had goose eggs in four contests in 2016-17. He admitted that frustration got the better of him several times earlier in the season, especially when fouls didn’t go his way in games against quality - and very sizable - opponents Florida State and Illinois.
But the muscled 6-foot-8 post player has 11 rejections in his last three games, evidence that he’s rebounded mentally.
“Everything hasn’t been happening the way I want it to this season,” said Okeke. “It’s supposed to be a bigger jump from last year, and I’ve just been frustrated from foul trouble, frustrated from a lot of things. But I have to keep being positive no matter what and keep my head down and keep working.”
Big South cumulative blocked shots leaders since 2014-15 season
Okeke and Cooks have been the best shot-blocking tandem in the league since their freshman seasons began in 2014.
Player | 2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | Total |
Duby Okeke, Winthrop | 46 | 72 | 24 | 142 |
Xavier Cooks, Winthrop | 47 | 54 | 23 | 124 |
Brandon Holcomb, Radford | 49 | 34 | N/A | 83 |
John Brown, High Point | 33 | 49 | N/A | 82 |
Jaleel Roberts, UNC Asheville | 78 | N/A | N/A | 78 |
Ed Polite Jr., Radford | N/A | 55 | 13 | 68 |
Where will Okeke end up in conference history?
That depends on health and foul trouble but Okeke has a great shot of finishing in the top-10. He’s got 25 games in his career with at least three blocked shots and it seems a safe bet he’ll tack on a few more before he’s done in Rock Hill.
Winthrop (9-4, 1-1 Big South) at High Point (7-7, 1-1)
When/where: 7 p.m. Wednesday at High Point’s Millis Center
Players to watch: Soph. G Andre Fox (13.4 ppg., 44 percent from 3, 3.6 rpg.); R-Sr. F Miles Bowman Jr. (12.9 ppg., 8.7 rpg., 55 percent from 3); Sr. G Anthony Lindauer (10.4 ppg., 45 percent from 3).
Need to know: High Point has won eight out of the last 10 in this rivalry, including the last three games at the Millis Center, which have all been decided on the final possession. Expect a reaction from Winthrop after its disappointing home loss Saturday against Radford, especially on the defensive end. The Eagles allowed the Highlanders to hit 16 of 33 shots from 3-point range, but High Point doesn’t make anywhere near that number of triples, only hitting double figures once in 14 games. Scott Cherry’s team - in its first season without graduated standout John Brown - has been one of the league’s best defensive teams and one of its worst offensive teams through two conference games.
This story was originally published January 3, 2017 at 5:01 PM with the headline "Breaking down Duby Okeke’s Winthrop blocked shots record."