Ekezie Is the
Center Of Terps'
Renaissance
Senior Balances
Books and
Basketball
By C. Jemal Horton
Washington Post
Staff Writer
Wednesday, December
23, 1998; Page D04
In Obinna Ekezie's
native Nigeria, his
first name means
"father's mind."
But every once in a
while, Maryland
Coach Gary Williams
refers to his
starting center as
"Old Ralph."
"It sounds funny,"
Williams said with
a smile, "but
that's his name --
Obinna Ralph
Ekezie. I kind of
like that. It's
different."
The 6-foot-10
Ekezie is indeed
unique. The son of
a successful
petroleum engineer,
Ekezie is an honor
student majoring in
business and
engineering who
grumbled to
teammates after
receiving a "B"
when grades were
released yesterday.
His best book, he
said on a Maryland
questionnaire, is
"Bad As I Wanna
Be," by Dennis
Rodman, and his
favorite class at
Maryland is
Calculus II.
Meanwhile, he
averages 12.5
points and a
team-leading 6.3
rebounds per game
for the No. 5
Terrapins (11-1),
who face winless
North Texas (0-8)
tonight at Cole
Field House.
"Usually,
Nigerians, we have
a Nigerian name and
then we have an
English name," said
Ekezie, who spent
last summer
learning post moves
from countryman
Hakeem Olajuwon of
the Houston
Rockets. "English
is the general
language of
Nigeria, and then
depending where you
come from, you have
a different
language. I guess
'Ralph' is fitting
because that's my
dad's name -- Obi
Ralph Ekezie. My
father and I, we
think alike."
Ekezie and his
father both are
serious-minded men.
Obi Ekezie has
offices for his oil
businesses in New
York and Houston.
Before he would let
his son make an
oral commitment to
Maryland, he asked
to speak with
then-Maryland
president William
Kirwan, as well as
the deans of the
engineering and
business schools.
"Obinna's father
could care less
about the NBA and
any basketball
dreams," Williams
said. "He just
wanted to make sure
his son was going
to get a degree
and, at one point,
come back and run
the company. I'm
pretty sure, he
might have gone to
Rice if he didn't
come to Maryland,
because of the
engineering school
at Rice. [But] I
think that Obinna
got it through to
his father that the
ACC was important
to him."
And Ekezie has
excelled in the
Atlantic Coast
Conference. The
summer before his
freshman year,
Ekezie dropped 30
pounds, from 290 to
260, playing games
in the campus's
North Gym. His high
school coach dubbed
him a project, but
Ekezie has been a
starter since the
early part of his
freshman year, when
he took over for
Mario Lucas.
Ekezie played only
two years of
organized
basketball before
he enrolled at
Maryland, and
Williams said he
has had to work
harder than his
current teammates
to reach a high
level of play.
Ekezie left his
home town of Port
Harcourt, Nigeria,
in 1993 to attend
Worcester (Mass.)
Academy.
"We contacted my
uncle, Dr. Ngozika
Nwaneri, who lives
in [New Carrollton]
Maryland to ask him
about schools,"
said Ekezie, who
grew up playing
soccer. "He knew a
lawyer, Lloyd Eukw,
who knew about
basketball. He
helped [former
George Washington
center] Yinka Dare
come over here."
And just like
academics, Ekezie
has taken
basketball
seriously.
"He doesn't like to
play around,"
teammate Steve
Francis said. "I
like to joke around
on the court. If he
misses a layup or
something, I'll
start laughing.
Then he'll get all
serious and start
yelling at me. I
think that helps
both of us out,
knowing that we can
play with each
other like that. It
just makes the team
that much better."
Ekezie has been
even more important
this season for the
Terrapins, who have
been transformed
into a running team
that benefits from
full-court defense
and fast break
offense. When
Maryland has to
play more of a
half-court style,
as it did against
Stanford and
Kentucky, Ekezie
has been a
consistent scorer
inside.
However, Ekezie has
been prone to
turnovers,
committing 26 this
season, second only
to Francis's 29.
But without Ekezie,
who scored his
1,000th career
point in the loss
at Kentucky, the
Terrapins probably
wouldn't be as
successful.
Ekezie "is the
person who holds
down the middle for
us, as far as being
aggressive,"
Francis said. "If
one of [the guards]
gets beat, he'll
sacrifice one of
his fouls just to
not let the other
person score. In
order for us to be
good, we've got to
have someone in the
middle who's
aggressive and
who's not afraid to
go up with anybody.
And Obinna does
that."
Ekezie said he
hopes to play
professional
basketball or
become a
businessman
someday, whichever
works out. In the
meantime, he'll try
to learn more about
his names.
"I know what Obinna
means, but I don't
really know what
Ekezie means," he
said. "I've got to
find out."
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The Washington Post
Company