WVU Is Betting Big on Obioha, but What Happens When He Needs a Breather?

By a quick glance at West Virginia's roster, you'll notice a clear lack of depth at the center position. The Mountaineers have just two true centers on the roster — Harlan Obioha (UNC Wilmington transfer) and Abraham Oyeadier (the only holdover from last year's team).

There's no telling what Ross Hodge will be able to get out of the raw, yet talented Oyeadier. He spent last year sitting and developing, ultimately taking a redshirt.

Once Obioha committed to WVU, it was pretty clear that he would be the guy at the five. The concern, however, was identifying a qualified backup option in the portal. Hodge knew the market was pretty watered down and didn't want to take a center just to take one. He and his staff wanted to get the best roster possible and did so by adding more guards/wings to the mix.

Obioha has only averaged 19.3 minutes per game throughout his career, which is obviously not going to be enough this season. He needs to be more in the 25-27 minute range. In order for him to get there, he had to improve his conditioning and change his body.

Thursday afternoon, Hodge raved about the progress that Obioha has made in that area and feels really good about where he'll be by the start of the season.

His body, the work he and Coach Martinez put into his body this summer… came in pushing 300, now he’s 267 and did it the right way. Lost bad weight and put on some muscle mass. The first thing that jumps out to you is the way he looks, and then being able to be lighter on his feet. He’s always had incredible hands and incredible feet. He was a high-end football player coming out of high school. He’s got great touch, great hands, great feet, and now he’s just able to be a little lighter, and it allows him to play longer stretches of quality basketball.”

Last season at UNC Wilmington, Obioha averaged 9.2 points, six rebounds, and 1.2 blocks per game while shooting 63% from the field.

If Oyeadier is unable to crack the rotation, Hodge can turn to Jackson Fields or Brenan Lorient, who are primarily power forwards. Lorient will almost certainly be in the starting lineup, but can have positional flexibility. Fields could be the top candidate, assuming he is fully healthy.

“He can run. He was obviously never impacted from that area. He can shoot," Hodge said when asked about Fields. "He still is a couple weeks away from getting the pins out of his wrist. It’s his non-shooting hand, which is a blessing. He tries to mimic as many drills as he can offensively and defensively without a ball because you don’t want a random ricochet to hit his thumb. He’s progressing well and things are trending positively.”

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