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Oklahoma wing Jeff Nwankwo suffers torn achilles out for extended period.
Nwankwo transferred to the Sooners from the junior college ranks earlier this offseason.
A tough blow for the Oklahoma basketball roster just a few months before the start of the season.
OU junior wing Jeff Nwankwo has suffered a torn achilles during summer workouts, a source confirmed to Sooners Illustrated on Sunday. The severe injury will sideline him for an extended period of time, but Oklahoma is still hopeful that he could possibly make it back by the end of this
upcoming season. Nwankwo made the jump to the Sooners from the junior college ranks earlier this offseason, coming aboard from Cowley College in Kansas.
A local product from nearby Putnam City North High School in Oklahoma City, Nwankwo initially started his collegiate career on the gridiron playing football at Tulane. He then made the switch to basketball ahead of the 2022-2023 season.
“Jeff is a powerful athletic wing who plays with extreme toughness,” Oklahoma head coach Porter Moser said in a release when the Sooners signed Nwankwo officially in May. “He has a great journey, starting his college career as a DI football player at Tulane and now playing basketball in the SEC. Jeff plays with a competitive edge every time he steps on the court. I love his shot-making ability, recording 68 made 3-pointers last season, and relentless rebounding effort.”
Last season, as a sophomore, Nwankwo was named the Kansas Jayhawks Community Conference Player of the Year. He also earned a spot on the National Junior College Athletic Association all-America first team as he led Cowley to a 28-6 record and an appearance in the NJCAA Sweet Sixteen.
On the year, Nwankwo made 34 starts in the 2023-2024 campaign averaging 18.6 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.9 steals per game. He was also very efficient from the field, hitting on 48.9 percent of his field goals and 37 percent of his three-point attempts. On four separate occasions, Nwankwo managed to pull in ten rebounds in a game and finished the year with three double-doubles.
Going into the fourth year under head coach Porter Moser, the Sooners will be operating with a reinvented roster in their first season in the SEC. However, OU does still have some returning faces fans are familiar with, headlined by a pair of starters in Jalon Moore and big man Sam Godwin.
