Auburn Tigers Find New Center With JUCO Transfer Commit

The Auburn Tigers have been attacking the transfer portal early. It is only the first day of the portal, and the Tigers have already brought several commits. The latest to join Auburn is Emeka Operum, who comes out of Butler Community College in El Dorado, Kan.

Operum is native to Lagos, Nigeria. The 7-foot center received three offers. Along with Auburn, George Mason and Iowa were the two teams to offer. After a visit to the Plains earlier this week, he decided Auburn was the place he would like to call home for the foreseeable future.

“It’s a great environment. It has great people, great coaches, it was a great experience,” Opurum told Auburn Live on Tuesday. “It felt special because of how the coaches welcomed me. The school is bigger than I thought. The way and how friendly the people are, that surprised me.”

In Operum’s freshman season, he played in 25 games, averaging nine points and eight rebounds a game. He finished the season with 87 blocks, which led the conference. He was also named the conference’s defensive player of the year.

Operum's defensive prowess and mentality are important for the Tigers as they look to rebuild after losing players like Johni Broome and Dylan Cardwell. It will be important as he steps up into arguably the best conference in college basketball.

“When I first got here, it was hard adjusting to things and the playing style,” Opurum said. “It was hard. The stamina, I was always comparing myself to other people. One thing I learned is run your own race. Don’t compare yourself to other people. I was doing the things coaches like seeing. I’m coachable. I always sprint the floor.”

That will be important for head coach Bruce Pearl and his staff as they look to replace Cardwell, who was so dominant on the boards a season ago for the Tigers. With Operum headed into just his second season, the Tigers still have time to mold him into a dominant big man and make another deep run in March Madness.

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