Philadelphia 76ers Star Helps Bring Niko Onyekwere to Villanova

Niko Onyekwere committed to Florida State in November 2024, but reopened his recruiting when Seminoles head coach Leonard Hamilton announced his surprise retirement in February 2025. Onyekwere, a 7-foot-1, 240 pound center from Abuja, Nigeria, said that new Villanova head coach Kevin Willard caught his eye while at Maryland, and then Willard reached out once Onyekwere started his search for a college home anew. Villanova’s location helped seal the deal.

“I’ve been watching Willard for a long time, and I’ve been watching his style of play, and I think he’s a great coach to play under,” Onyekwere said. “So when he recruited me I was quite excited to come here because I’ve always been a big fan of Joel Embiid.”

Embiid, of course, plays for the Philadelphia 76ers roughly 30 minutes away — interstate traffic permitting — from Villanova’s campus. The two even share an arena, with the Wildcats playing a slate of their home games at Xfinity Mobile Arena in South Philly. Onyekwere said he idolized Embiid growing up, watching YouTube videos of how the star center would practice in order to gain inspiration for his own game. 

“I started playing basketball because of Joel Embiid… watching his videos, workouts and stuff. I improved watching Joel Embiid,” Onyekwere said. 

“Being in Philly, being in the same city, same state as a big team and playing in the same arena. I feel so much closer to my role model. It’s a big thing for me because I feel like this is where I’m supposed to be. God knows where to move me around.”

A Long Way to Go

Onyekwere knows that modeling his game off an NBA superstar, winner of the league’s MVP award in the 2023-24 season, sets an extremely high bar. Rather than looking at that as a daunting task, he takes it as inspiration to improve.

“I feel like my game is not yet finished, nourished the way I want it to be. Just because everybody has different paths and different lifestyles. But it’s still something I look up to, trust in the process that one day I might be like Joel Embiid,” Onyekwere said. “I’m like, I may be able to get to that stage, where I can be able to show my talents and just play and be known, and do good.”

Onyekwere is a likely redshirt candidate as a true freshman this season — he didn’t play during the Wildcats’ preseason slate, even though Villanova dealt with a rash of injuries and they already have players like Duke Brennan, Braden Pierce and Tafara Gapare capable of playing the 5. 

Welcome to the NCAA

The big freshman said that he got a glimpse of just how much work he has to do to reach his goals during his first Wildcats’ practice. Although he spent the 2024-25 season at Long Island Lutheran in Glen Head, N.Y., Onyekwere said the intensity of practices was a major jump from what he was used to back in Nigeria, and he felt like he lagged behind his teammates.

“The only surprise I got was the conditioning part. I feel like I’m strong, it’s not a problem, but the conditioning part is what surprised me,” Onyekwere said. “It’s a way different world out here, something that all of them had experienced more, they knew how to maneuver. I’m still trying to find my ways of getting through that, beating that.”

Onyekwere said he couldn’t pick out a particularly grueling drill from those early days on campus: the intensity of each floored him. After several months of preparation, however, they show him how much progress he’s made, reminding him of his journey from Nigeria through stops in Europe to the United States.

“In the beginning, every drill. But now I’m in it. It’s just getting to keep going. In the beginning, the summertime, every drill is like ‘Oh my God, oh my God,’” Onyekwere said.

“But now I feel like I’m a dog. I’ve learned, now I’m in it, so it’s not as difficult as it was during the summer. I’ve overcome so many things, so there’s nothing too big for me to overcome. I’m there right now, now I just need to match my experience with what I’m learning on the court and what the coach is giving me.”