[jwplayer YjzFCyCT]
Durant Springmann had one birthday wish: To play basketball with Emmanuel Nzekwesi.
The Oral Roberts star happily obliged. He’d be on the court with assistant coach Russell Springmann’s son.
By the day of the party, Nzekwesi limped around in a boot after injuring his ankle. Russell didn’t expect Nzekwesi to show, so he didn’t remind him about the party. His star player had a foot to nurse.
But on Durant’s birthday, Russell’s phone rang.
“Hey coach, where’s Durant’s party?” Nzekwesi asked.
Stunned, Russell assured Nzekwesi he didn’t need to come. But Nzekwesi made a promise, one he intended to keep.
“Coach, I’m on my way,” Nzekwesi responded. “I just need to know where to go.”
Attending Durant’s party and bringing a present wasn’t a decision for Nzekwesi. Russell is family. That’s what family does.
Hundreds of miles from his real family in Trophy Club, Texas, and thousands from his home in The Hague, Netherlands, Nzekwesi builds family wherever he goes. His fiancée, Tatum; Springmann; his head coach, Paul Mills; and teammates form Nzekwesi’s home away from home.
As much as Nzekwesi benefits from his relationships, his new family benefits from his presence.
“I’ve coached more than 600 players in my life and he is 100% a guy who I would trust leaving my children with,” Mills said.
*****
Emmanuel Nzekwesi towered over surrounding customers in line, confused.
His first American menu – stopped at Jason’s Deli on the way to a regional tournament – presented Nzekwesi a mystery and a challenge. What’s a Reuben the Great?
A native of the Netherlands, cryptic menus marked one of many challenges Nzekwesi faced in moving to Trophy Club, Texas, for his sophomore year of high school.
An unstable living situation and an often crowded house magnified the challenges of adapting to a foreign culture.
“[His] mom had to move around a little bit, her finding a job was a struggle at times,” his high school coach, Scott Curran, said. “I could really tell that weighed on Emmanuel.”
Nzekwesi remained focused. He knew he was in the United States to play basketball.
From crying when highlights ended on TV to tossing toys and clothes, basketball was everything to two-year-old Nzekwesi.
That childhood passion culminated in his move to Texas to prepare for college basketball.
In Texas, Nzekwesi always stuck out, whether it was his height, nationality or his attire: He wore an out-of-place collared shirt during his first trip to the Byron Nelson High School weight room.
“I do push-ups,” Nzekwesi told Curran. “That’s all.”
Once Nzekwesi ditched the collared shirt for workout gear, his body “exploded,” as Curran said, into the creation of the physical monster Nzekwesi is today.
Curran remembers a fledgling Nzekwesi dominating opponents early. A sophomore Nzekwesi bludgeoned regional powerhouse, Fort Worth Dunbar, in the regional finals, piling on 22 points without missing a shot.
Driving Nzekwesi to school every morning and workouts after school brought Curran and the Dutch star close. Curran followed Nzekwesi’s Oral Roberts career closely, watching all of the games he could.
More than four years later, Curran and his wife witnessed Nzekwesi dunk at the buzzer for his final points on senior night at Oral Roberts. It was the apex of Nzekwesi’s hard work, the fulfillment of a promise Curran made many years ago when Nzekwesi questioned everything.
“I promised him, I said, ‘Keep working, man, keep doing what you’re doing and good things are gonna happen for you and your family,’ and obviously that’s happening now,” Curran said.
But at the end of Nzekwesi’s high school career, Curran’s promise remained unrealized.
Nzekwesi drew the attention of Damian Lillard’s trainer, Phil Beckner, and, in turn, Weber State head coach Randy Rahe, who traveled down to Texas often to watch his top recruit. Nzekwesi signed his national letter of intent. Soon, he’d be a Wildcat.
But issues with Nzekwesi’s visa meant he could never enroll at Weber State, despite enlisting legal help. He wouldn’t be a Wildcat. He wouldn’t follow in the footsteps of Lillard. He wouldn’t play Division I basketball.
For now, Nzekwesi detoured to Moravian Prep in North Carolina in hopes of attracting Division I interest again.
Nzekwesi arrived before his teammates to work on his game. A continent and a sea separating Nzekwesi from his loved ones, diverting from his intended plan weighed on him.
But his first night at Moravian marked a turning point, the genesis of a deeply personal relationship with God that Nzekwesi would carry from that point forward.
“I can really tell you that my life really changed from that point,” Nzekwesi said.
After months of work at Moravian, an offer finally came his way. It was Oral Roberts, a school that had previously recruited Nzekwesi. Out of high school, Nzekwesi dismissed Oral Roberts. He wanted a bigger stage. The lights of Tulsa, Oklahoma, weren’t bright enough.
But faith led Nzekwesi away from his planned path time and time again. He wasn’t going to resist any longer.
“Sometimes we have a plan for ourselves, but the plan God has is way different,” Nzekwesi said. “At the end of the day his plan will come, so we just have to trust.”
*****
Silence pierced the film room at Oral Roberts University.
After the Golden Eagles’ loss to Division II Southern Nazarene, something had to change.
As the session ended, Nzekwesi hurried to catch his new head coach, Paul Mills.
“It would never happen again,” Nzekwesi told Mills.
Two nights later, the Golden Eagles matched up with 9-2 Missouri State, led by future Indiana Pacer Alize Johnson. With an all-conference player suspended and two seniors injured, Oral Roberts seemed destined to fall to 2-10, cementing a second straight disappointing season.
But 17 points scored by Nzekwesi pushed Oral Roberts past Missouri State, and 24 more the next game helped them defeat NCAA Tournament cinderella Florida Gulf Coast.
“You began to see the tide swing for him after that particular loss,” Mills said.
Life didn’t become easier for Nzekwesi even as he found his place at Oral Roberts. An eight-win season diluted Nzekwesi’s Summit League Freshman of the Year season, the program’s lowest win total since 1994 and the third single-digit win season in program history.
The program fired head coach Scott Sutton, the coach who recruited Nzekwesi, the same coach who offered him a new life.
The new regime and constant losing brought Nzekwesi down, angry, confused and reluctant to go all-in with the new coaching staff.
But even as Nzekwesi struggled, he never complained and worked hard.
“He’s very grateful for opportunities that he’s given and he’s going to use those opportunities to add value to whatever it is he’s been presented with,” Mills said.
Still learning how to operate within his body, Nzekwesi came to Oral Roberts trying to build on the jump shot he improved so much in high school.
“My freshman year, to be honest, I just came on the court and was like ‘Okay, how do I impact and how do I basically score?’” Nzekwesi said. “I didn’t pay attention to percentages much.”
As Nzekwesi matured, he leaned into his strength, literally and figuratively, playing on the inside.
“That was him understanding where he could score and where he was most efficient,” Mills said.
In the summer of 2017, Nzekwesi continued his development with the Dutch national team, most notably, rebounding. Mack Bruining, Nzekwesi’s teammate, snared boards with his relentlessness and timing. Nzekwesi always had the physical profile to bang on the glass. Now, he internalized it and made rebounding a priority.
At Oral Roberts, Mills and his staff track how often a rebounder does their job, whether it is crashing or getting back. Failure to execute means extra conditioning. Nzekwesi dominated this metric, rarely dipping below a 95% success rate, according to Mills.
“He understood where to be and what would give him the best opportunity in order to retrieve the basketball,” Mills said about his rebounding.
As Nzekwesi grew as a player, morphing into a dominant interior scorer, rebounder and defender, he dragged the program up with him. The Golden Eagles won 17 games this season, their best mark in five seasons. It wasn’t just Nzekwesi’s skills improving, but his focus, leadership and commitment to the team.
He could have transferred to a bigger school. He could have spent summers and even in season time away from his teammates playing with the national team. He could have faded into the background when he missed time with injury, but Nzekwesi never fazed.
Any time zapped by injuries is detrimental for a college basketball player, especially one in their final season.
“I think he got to a point where he felt like, ‘Am I going to be able to play consistently without something happening?’ It took a toll on him mentally,” Springmann said.
Yet, Nzekwesi didn’t spend practices sulking on the sidelines or zoning out.
“What E-Man was able to do was stay engaged the whole time,” Mills said. “I mean he basically became an extra coach for us. … I think that speaks to his care factor.”
Nzekwesi’s ability to not only survive and overcome his battles but to thrive amidst them comes from the same source that has powered him throughout his life: Faith.
“The Bible definitely is his compass,” Springmann said. “That’s how he determines how he’s going to live his life.”
Even for a wildly popular athlete and the “poster child” for Oral Roberts University, as Springmann said, the absence of Nzekwesi’s family to guide him through college was significant, especially his father. His father dealt with family affairs in The Hague, Netherlands, during much of the college process, 4,687 miles from Tulsa.
“You want to know that faith is important to you at all times, through the ups and downs of life,” Mills said. “I think you’ve seen that with E-Man. … It’s something that permeates every aspect of life.”
Nzekwesi lacked answers and faith couldn’t grant him omniscience. Still, he trusted the process. In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., faith comprises of taking the next step even if the whole staircase is still concealed.
“He was able to take steps without seeing the whole staircase,” Mills said.
Nzekwesi joined Transformation Church during his sophomore year, then a small community. He has seen it blossom into a church over 5,000 strong. Often leading athletic chapel, Nzekewsi would help others for guidance after worship.
Springmann recalls Nzekwesi talking with a teammate about biblical history. He joined the conversation, stunned at the breadth of Nzekwesi’s knowledge.
“I felt like I was listening to a professor,” Springmann said.
Spreading his faith to others, not only as a refuge for himself, speaks to, as Mills says, Nzekwesi’s “care factor.” Nzekwesi consistently prioritized others at Oral Roberts despite being a campus celebrity.
Nzekwesi has a habit of leaving legacies, imprinting a lasting impression on everyone he comes across. Leaving something bigger than himself. Not only on the basketball court, where Nzekwesi hopes to land an NBA contract, but, more importantly, as a person.
*****
Rain pelted Emmanuel Nzekwesi.
Precipitation is ubiquitous in the Netherlands, a country in a constant tug-of-war with the ever-encroaching sea.
No deluge would deter eight-year-old Nzekwesi from making it to basketball practice, though. Travel was often an ordeal for the Nzekwesis, forced to take public transportation long distances to practice.
Yet, Nzekwesi’s parents, Chioma and Emmanuel, never let any distance or obstacle stop Nzekwesi from playing basketball, the sport he loved from such an early age.
Chioma and Emmanuel pushed for their son to play basketball as a child, signing him up for basketball lessons at age seven; despite being too young to play, he stood over other kids his age. He was tall, so he could play.
They paid for Nzekwesi to participate in a showcase for American colleges, which was eventually canceled. Basketball wasn’t popular back then in the Netherlands, making every opportunity crucial.
And even in the heaviest rain, they withstood the downpour to take him to practice.
Even as a child, Nzekwesi understood the sacrifices his parents made. And on this rainy day, he made a promise to his mother. A promise Nzekwesi is on the precipice of fulfilling.
“Mom, I’ll pay you back for this,” Nzekwesi said. “I’ll become a pro and I’ll pay you back for this.”
Fourteen years and many thousands of miles later, Nzekwesi is a contract away from finally realizing the promise he made to his mother so long ago.
But Nzekwesi knows basketball is not forever.
One day, he hopes to further his passion for business. With an undergraduate degree in Computer Information Technology, he’s pursuing his master’s degree.
He’s building his own business now, a recruiting database to streamline the process for coaches to recruit international players. Nzekwesi knows how arduous the process of applying to American colleges is. He wants future athletes to have opportunities he didn’t.
If his track record says anything, from Byron Nelson to Oral Roberts, one thing is clear: No matter where Nzekwesi lands in life, he brightens the lives of people around him.
“He’s a light that always shines,” Springmann said.
[lawrence-related id=17258,17129,16936]
[vertical-gallery id=14282]