If you try to judge Emeka Udenyi’s worth to the Seattle University men’s basketball team by his scoring, you’d be missing the point — and overlooking all that the burly senior forward brings to the team.
Udenyi is tied for the team lead in rebounding (5.4 per game) and is second in assists (2.2). And at 6-foot-6 and 225 pounds, he provides an inside toughness on offense and defense while playing with an energy that’s contagious.
“The biggest stat that we look at with Emeka, is just the amount of winning plays he makes throughout a game and I don’t know if there’s an actual number for that,” said Seattle University coach Chris Victor. “But we know on our staff and our program that when it’s time to win a game and it’s time to make a big play, that we can count on Emeka to go out there and do that.”
Udenyi, averaging 4.8 points, is in his third season at Seattle U after spending two seasons at City College of San Francisco. He had six points, six rebounds, three assists and a steal in the team’s 85-80 win at Utah Valley on Saturday that might be the Redhawks’ biggest conference victory since joining the Western Athletic Conference in the 2012-13 season.
Seattle U ended an 11-game winning streak for Utah Valley, which included wins at Oregon and Brigham Young, and moved Seattle U into the WAC lead at 5-0.
Udenyi said he and his teammates weren’t surprised they pulled off the upset, keeping the faith when they trailed by five points with 3:57 left.
“We kept fighting, kept believing and chipping (the deficit) down,” Udenyi said. “All the guys believed we were going to win so I knew we would get it done.”
The victory was Seattle U’s sixth straight, pushing its overall record to 14-4. Up next are home games Thursday against Tarleton State (10-8, 3-2 WAC) and Saturday against Southern Utah (13-6, 5-1).
Winning is nothing new to Udenyi, who helped lead City College of San Francisco to a 61-2 record in his two seasons there. But it was playing — and losing — to his two older brothers growing up in Oakland, Calif., that helped build Udenyi’s game and mindset.
Brother Bruce Johnson is 13 years older and brother Amadi Udenyi is four years older. Amadi played for five seasons as a 6-1 point guard at Pepperdine and was No. 4 in career assists for the Waves when he finished playing there in 2018.
“Being the youngest, I was always competitive playing with them in the backyard,” Emeka said. “And you know, when you’re younger, you want to win so bad and my older brothers never let me win. So that helped, that motivation, and it helps bring it out on the court. I’m just super competitive.”
Udenyi was a two-time all-league player at De La Salle High School in Concord, California, a school most known for having a 151-game winning streak in football that ended in 2004 with a loss to Bellevue.
Udenyi looks like a strong candidate to play tight end and wouldn’t rule it out in the future. But he decided to stick with basketball at De La Salle and that decision helped him eventually get to Seattle U.
Udenyi and City College of San Francisco teammates Nate Robinson and Darrion Trammell joined Seattle U for the 2020-21 season. CCSF teammate Kyree Brown joined the team last season, but Udenyi is the lone player among the quartet still with the Redhawks (Robinson left after his first season and Trammell and Brown transferred this past offseason.)
Udenyi, a starter for Seattle U since his arrival, said there was never a doubt that he would return.
“After the success we had last season (sharing the regular-season WAC title), I just felt like we could do something even more special and keep it going,” said Udenyi, who earned his degree in communications last year and is taking graduate courses in leadership. “I didn’t want to go to a new program in my last year. The coaches are familiar with me here and I feel like we’ve got a family and a brotherhood.”
Udenyi is focusing on helping Seattle U defend its regular-season WAC title, then he will turn his attention to winning the WAC tournament and the NCAA tournament bid that would come with it.
Udenyi will do what it takes to help achieve that, even if it doesn’t mean scoring a lot.
Victor said the coaching staff’s standards are high for Udenyi and the toughness, energy and communication that he provides.
“So when he’s not bringing it, it’s very clear to our team as well because it’s at such a high level,” Victor said. “And then this year there has also been more leadership — being in the program for a few years now — on top of everything else.”
Udenyi has embraced his role, even it means not scoring a lot. He describes his role like this:
“It’s being a heart-and-soul, energy-and-glue guy, and doing the little things. Being a leader, making winning plays, always being the anchor on defense and communicating. Coaches always want me to be vocal. They want me to be the biggest communicator on the floor. So the main thing I’ve got to do is be that energy guy and the glue to the team.”