Okereafor gradually progressing in freshman season

Adam Stern
Executive Editor
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Around a year and a half ago, in the fall of 2010, Shaka Smart moseyed over to Benedictine High School on the outskirts of VCU’s campus one night to scout a player on Benedictine who turned out to be a future Ram commit in Jordan Burgess.

Burgess – current VCU forward Brad Burgess’ younger brother – had a good game that night, but there was somebody on the opposing team who caught Smart’s eyes as much if not more. The team was Christchurch School, and the player was a junior point guard who had a slow first half in the scoring department – only two points – but picked it up considerably in the second by dropping 15 more.

That player was Teddy Okereafor.

Intrigued and impressed by the crafty point guard, Smart approached Okereafor after the game and – just like that – began recruiting him to VCU.

At the time, Okereafor was considering graduating a year early from high school because he already had the requisite amount of credits needed. The only other school recruiting the guard then beside VCU was William & Mary – specifically then-Tribe assistant coach Jamion Christian, who has since come to VCU to serve in the same position.

Ultimately determined to graduate a year early and feeling most comfortable with VCU’s style of play, Okereafor chose to come to VCU – even though he picked up additional interest from schools like UVa, Georgetown and Clemson in the meantime.

Fast forward from that moment all the way to two weeks ago in the end of the first half of VCU’s 66-43 win over Towson. It was then that the other Burgess brother, Brad, helped make another impact on Okereafor’s fledgling career.

After a made layup by Towson cut the Rams lead to 11, the Tigers were slow to get back in their defensive set, and Okereafor, in the game and on the ball at the time, took advantage by eating up the oodles of open space in front of him and steamrolling toward the basket. As he got toward the top of the arc, Burgess set a drag screen for him, which granted Okereafor room to squeak by his defender and make a strong drive to the basket where he was fouled hard on his layup attempt and hurled to the ground.

Burgess, impressed by the tenacity he saw out of his freshman teammate on the previous play, quickly ran over to Okereafor, picked him up and then gave him a swift pat on the back of the head as he whispered words of encouragement.

“He said ‘good look,’” Okereafor later recounted about the words Burgess whispered after that play. “And I just said, ‘you did it.”

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It only takes one conversation with Teddy Okereafor to realize he has a very noticeable and wholly unique characteristic unshared by any other player on the VCU basketball team: Okereafor is British.

Hailing from London, England, Okereafor grew up always knowing he wanted to come over to America to try and play competitive basketball. His club coach at the time helped him establish ties with Christchurch School – an Episcopal college prep school in Christchurch about 60 miles east of Richmond – and the rest is history.

Even though Okereafor was anxious to make it to America because of basketball, his home country still streams through his blood. Okereafor keeps up constantly with the English Premier League – England’s illustrious soccer league – in which Manchester United is his favorite club. And stays in regular contact with his family, including his brother, sister, parents and grandmother. His family has yet to make it to a VCU game, but he hopes that will change soon.

And, in the meantime, the 6-foot-3-inch guard is soaking up everything and learning to enjoy his time as a British athlete in America.

“The girls, yeah they like it,” Okereafor jokingly said of his accent. “Everyone else thinks it’s cool; they don’t make fun of me.”

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The point guard position has turned into something of a holy cow at VCU in the last decade; it’s certainly not a spot for the faint-hearted. And, in the limited amount of playing time Okereafor has gotten thus far in his freshman campaign, the Londoner has shown that, if nothing else, he’s not afraid to try and run the show.

Yet the pace of the college game as compared to the high school game is so much quicker that Okereafor has, at times, appeared flustered and confused when running a play. The good news, though, is that’s to be expected out of a freshman point guard, at least according to Smart.

“His progression is very similar to that of a lot of freshman: slow,” Smart said. “It just takes time.

“Teddy has phenomenal ability: As a point guard, he has the most natural point guard skills of anybody on our team,” Smart said. “It may well be the light turns on and he turns into the player we know he can be and that can happen very soon or it can happen in the off-season. But we’re going to keep getting him better and keep making him work.”

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EDITORS NOTE: To see the first installment of our new series profiling VCU’s players, check out this story on Ram freshman Treveon Graham taking comparisons to senior Bradford Burgess in stride.