Incoming recruit from NBA Africa Academy following Paul Mills to Wichita State basketball
Paul Mills has believed in the skills of Joy Ighovodja since watching him play in the NBA Academy Games last year.
The 6-foot-4 Nigerian point guard, an 18-year-old incoming freshman who has been playing with NBA Africa Academy, eventually signed with Mills at Oral Roberts last November.
Now Ighovodja will follow Mills from ORU to Wichita State, as it was announced Monday that he has been released from his letter of intent by ORU and signed paperwork to officially join the 2023 recruiting class at WSU.
“Joy has a terrific skillset combined with great length for a guard his size and will be a force for many years to come,” Mills said in a WSU release. “He is a product of NBA Academy Africa where his development has made monumental strides. He is being challenged every day by other high-level players who all receive high-level coaching from the Academy. More importantly, Joy is a young man of high character who will represent Shocker basketball well, on and off the court.”
Ighovodja is the lone incoming freshman currently signed with WSU. Mills has gone through the portal for his other three additions: Texas-San Antonio center Jacob Germany, Miami wing Harlond Beverly and Oklahoma point guard Bijan Cortes. Ighovodja will help break up the class sizes for WSU, which currently has one senior and five juniors on its nine-player roster.
WSU currently has four scholarships remaining to fill out its 2023-24 roster with center Kenny Pohto and shooting guard Jaron Pierre Jr. still in the transfer portal.
Ighovodja was identified by Mills at the 2022 NBA Academy Games, a series of exhibition games featuring top players from the league’s four academies located in Australia, India, Mexico and Senegal.
The southpaw with a 6-foot-10 wingspan and 39-inch vertical from Abeokuta, Nigeria was a standout for NBA Academy Africa, which finished in first place in the tournament. Ighovodja is the 16th prospect from NBA Academy Africa to commit to an NCAA Division I men’s basketball program.
Ighovodja was also chosen through NBA Africa Academy as one of 12 prospects assigned to a Basketball Africa League team — ABC Fighters — this past year. Although he did not play very much, he was still able to gain valuable professional experience.
“BAL was a great experience because I was around professionals,” Ighovodja told ESPN this February. “I learned a lot even though I wasn’t given (much of a) chance to play, maybe because of trust or the way they looked at me as a young player.
“Being around those guys, they helped me grow. If I had any questions, their rooms were always open for me to ask questions and go through videos to learn more about the game.”
It appears that Mills was the first to recruit Ighovodja and he committed before entertaining any other offers. He is not rated by Rivals or 247Sports.
Ighovodja, who only started playing basketball at the age of 14, also helped Nigeria win a bronze medal at the 2019 FIBA U16 African Championship, averaging 8.3 points and 7.7 rebounds in seven tournament games.
