Cleared by NCAA, Gabe Osabuohien ready to add versatility to West Virginia’s front line

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — While waiting to hear back from the NCAA on his eligibility waiver, Gabe Osabuohien said he spent weeks on social media checking out stories of others going through the same process.

“I saw different tweets on some people getting cleared and some not getting cleared,” Osabuohien said. “I was just waiting my turn.”

Osabuohien’s turn came Wednesday, when it was announced the Arkansas transfer was cleared by the NCAA to play at West Virginia for the rest of the season, beginning with Friday’s 7 p.m. game against Boston University (3-2), which is coming off a 78-70 upset victory over South Carolina.

“It was a great moment,” Osabuohien said. “I got a thumbs up and I started celebrating on the baseline. Everybody recognized what was happening and jumped on me. It was great that they were just as happy that I got cleared as I was.”

Osabuohien played two seasons at Arkansas, before being dismissed from the team on Aug. 15. He was enrolled at West Virginia a week later in what he called a crazy process.

His AAU coach, Will Russell, helped Osabuohien make the connection to WVU (3-0).

“We got called,” WVU head coach Bob Huggins said. “We got the call from his AAU coach and Larry (Harrison) followed up on it. We were told (Arkansas) would do everything to try and help him be eligible this year and we felt like we needed another big. It felt like the right thing to do.”

At 6-foot-7 and 235 pounds, Osabuohien said he brings some versatility to a WVU front line that already includes the sizable trio of Derek Culver, Oscar Tshiebwe and Logan Routt.

“I feel like I fit in pretty well, because I can do some different things at my size,” Osabuohien said. “I have a different passing element and I feel like I can guard anyone from (point guard to power forward).”

As to the eligibility waiver, as a Division I transfer, Osabuohien needed a waiver from the NCAA or else he would have needed to sit this season out to satisfy transfer rules.

The NCAA’s waiver process has come under scrutiny, in that the process isn’t transparent and, at times, there seems to be no rhyme or reason as to how one athlete gets cleared and another does not.

“I really didn’t know what to expect, because I’d never gone through anything like this before,” Osabuohien said. “I definitely kept an open mind. I knew there was going to be a good chance I could get cleared. I just kept waiting and it finally came through.”

Osabuohien grew up in Toronto, but didn’t take up basketball seriously until the seventh grade.

“I was just really a regular kid before that,” Osabuohien said. “I was interested in a whole bunch of stuff.”

He first came to the United States in high school. He played as a freshman in Virginia, before finishing out his prep career at Southwest Christian Academy in Little Rock, Ark.

“It was different, because I went from being one of the best players in Canada to moving to (the U.S.) and going right back to the bottom,” Osabuohien said. “I had to build myself back up. It was interesting.”

Huggins said Osabuohien will bring a solid defensive presence, because he’s a taller guy who can also guard on the outside.

“He gives us something we don’t have,” Huggins said. “He’ll be our best big to defend on the perimeter. When people try to go small, he’s a gy with size who can still go out and guard smaller guys. He also bounces it pretty well, so if we get a mismatch with bigger people trying to guard him, I think we’ll try to take advantage of his ball-handling skills.”

Note

Huggins confirmed Wednesday that Tshiebwe has been cleared to travel with the Mountaineers next week to Mexico to play in the Cancun Challenge.

A native of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tshiebwe did not receive clearance this summer to travel with the team on the Mountaineers’ exhibition tour of Spain, because of student visa issues.

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