Creighton's Big Bet on Oswin Erhunmwunse
After scratching the surface at Providence, the Bluejays hope they're getting a center whose best basketball is still ahead of him.
Providence fans were elated when Oswin Erhunmwunse announced after his freshman season that he would return to Friartown, but the reaction was relatively tepid once he moved on and headed to Creighton this past spring.
Erhunmwunse’s timing two springs ago was significant. Word had just broken that Bryce Hopkins was moving on, and returning a high-upside center who earned All-Big East Freshman Team honors was the positive jolt the program needed.
That momentum just never carried over into the season — for the Friars or the player himself.
Defensively, PC struggled mightily during Erhunmwunse’s sophomore campaign, and despite the young center averaging 8.3 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game, the general feeling in Providence was that he’d underachieved in year two.
It’s a feeling Erhunmwunse apparently shared.
“He’d tell you he didn’t live up to his expectations a season ago,” new Creighton head coach Alan Huss told John Fanta in an interview for the Big East Conference this summer. “Maybe what’s most exciting to me and to our staff right now is Oswin recognizes that, and he’s excited about trying to attack that and make sure he has a dynamic year this season.”
Huss shared that his new center heads into his junior year seeking a fresh start, looking to improve his discipline “in all aspects of his life.”
Key for Erhunmwunse, according to Huss, will be his ability to play for longer stretches.
“When he’s been on the floor he’s been truly dynamic, in both seasons, at Providence. If you look at even last season, his offensive and defensive leverage — he made Providence an elite team on both ends of the floor, when he was on the floor.”
“Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t probably in as good a shape as he needed to be a season ago. That led him into situations where he’d make undisciplined plays, especially on the defensive end. He’d end up fouling too much,” Huss told Fanta.
To be clear, Erhunmwunse's sophomore season wasn't without its moments. There were stretches where he looked like one of the better rebounders and shot blockers in the conference, but he ultimately didn't develop into the dominating interior anchor Providence hoped he'd become.
He had fourteen games of 10+ rebounds, went for 14 points, 10 rebounds, and four blocks against Tarris Reed and UConn, and killed Creighton on the interior with 14 points and 13 rebounds (9 on the offensive end) in a win over the Jays in Providence.
Erhunmwunse also finished the year with the best Net Rating (point differential per 100 possessions) on the Friars (+12.6) — as he and freshman Jamier Jones (+11.2) were the only Providence players with a positive rating.
And for the second year in a row, Erhunmwunse got little help from his fellow bigs, which the Net Ratings of portal additions Cole Hargrove and Duncan Powell demonstrate:
On paper, the departure should have stung. Erhunmwunse rebounded, blocked shots, posted the team's best Net Rating and was still only entering his junior season. So why wasn't there a greater sense of loss?
Sure, part of it was the natural inclination to want to clean house after two down seasons and a coaching change. Plus, players ranked in the top 50 out of high school tend to bear more of the blame when seasons go downhill.
There were, however, legitimate areas of concern that showed up over his two seasons in Providence.
Huss touched on the most apparent: he would get gassed, which resulted in picking up cheap fouls while rotating defensively, or setting sloppy screens.
Offensively, Erhunmwunse improved in terms of making decisions off short rolls, but his game remained somewhat limited.
He had a high Turnover Percentage (19.5%, second worst on the Friars).
Over 30% of his buckets came in screen-and-roll action, where he was a relatively average finisher for a player blessed with his ridiculous leaping ability (55th percentile nationally finishing on rolls).
And while he gathered a lot of offensive rebounds, his finishing after cleaning the glass was somewhat inconsistent (34th percentile on put-backs).
Offensively, Erhunmwunse was viewed as a multi-year project coming out of Putnam Science Academy, and the numbers above weren’t much of a surprise to those who had been tracking him since his prep days.
More surprising are what some of the advanced defensive metrics tell, namely that opponents scored 1.102 points per possession against him (7th percentile) and shot nearly 49% when being guarded by him. As a point of comparison the top defensive bigs in the Big East last season were Reed (.699 points per possession against, 29% shooting against) and Zuby Ejiofor (.788, 33% shooting against).
It’s only fair to point out that Providence was a mess defensively, leaving Erhunmwunse in difficult situations all year, but despite the slippage around him, he wasn’t quite the defensive anchor PC hoped he’d become.
Comparatively, Hargrove wasn’t much better defensively (1.055 points per possession against/11th percentile), while Powell logged time at center and had stronger numbers (.863 PPP/60th percentile).
Numbers and recruiting rankings aside, when Erhunmwunse was recruited so heavily out of high school (by not only Providence, but Creighton as well), he was viewed as a longer-term project. He was thrust into action as a freshman due to ineffective veterans, held up well, and was supposed to be a defensive force as a sophomore on a team that ultimately didn’t defend across the board.
There are clear reasons high-major staffs have remained intrigued. Players with Erhunmwunse’s combination of length, explosive leaping, rebounding numbers, and shot-blocking potential simply aren’t easy to find. His shot blocking can be captivating on film:
The hope in Omaha is that with two years under his belt, now playing for a program that defended at the highest level behind a tremendous shot blocker in Ryan Kalkbrenner, that he’ll reach his potential. Ideally for Creighton, Erhunmwunse will take the lessons of the past two years and hold down the paint for a Bluejays team that has promising pieces across its roster.
With talented newcomers Wes Enis (USF) and BJ Davis (San Diego State) joining the likes of returnees Jackson McAndrew, Jasen Green, Austin Swartz, and Hudson Greer, there’s all sorts of talent one-through-four.
The center position could be key to the whole operation.
Huss believes Creighton’s past recruitment of Erhunmwunse will bring a familiarity that many transfers don’t enjoy in an era of speed-date recruiting. He also appears to believe that his new center is ready to build upon the lessons learned over the past two seasons.
“We’re excited about getting a guy that knows exactly what he’s getting into, that knows what his weaknesses are, and is doing everything in his power to address them.”
If Huss can unlock a more disciplined, consistent version of Erhunmwunse, Creighton may see the player both programs envisioned when they first recruited him.
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