Anthony Grant: Zimife Nwokeji a 'great fit' for UD
Flyer combines spirit and leadership abilities with skillset on court.
A photograph from Saturday’s game at Richmond shows Zimife Nwokeji jumping into the air on the bench as Obi Toppin throws down a windmill dunk in the second half. The ball had not even left Toppin’s hand, and Nwokeji was a foot off the ground, reacting faster than anyone in the arena to one of the most exciting plays in the Dayton Flyers’ 87-79 victory.
Nwokeji’s dad, Kennedy, shared the image on Twitter on Tuesday as did his former coach, Justin Brantley, who was at the SPIRE Institute when Nwokeji was there and is now the Ohio and Midwest Recruiting Coordinator for AllOhio Basketball and also works for Koa Prep in Maryland.
“This picture is everything!” Brantley wrote on Twitter. “This is one of the reasons I love (Nwokeji). From the day I met him, he was always about being a great teammate! He championed others’ successes! He motivated the man next to him. Often times, that man next to him was my son! It’s just who Zimi is.”
Brantley called Nwokeji, a 6-foot-7 forward from Quincy, Fla., a natural leader and praised him for bringing energy to the bench even though he knows it must be hard sitting and watching. If that sounds familiar, it’s because the same thing was said about Obi Toppin two years ago during his redshirt year.
Now Dayton’s leading scorer and a candidate for national player of the year, Toppin arrived at UD in May 2017 but sat out his first season as an academic redshirt. He developed as a player that season but also did so well as a cheerleader on the bench he became the first non-active