City of Basketball Love

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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Alex Imegwu watched with the rest of the country as Penn took on Kansas in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday. He had no idea he’d become a Quaker himself in just a few days.

After Penn extended Imegwu an offer over the weekend, the 2018 New Jersey wing out of Seton Hall Prep announced on Twitter on Monday night that he was going to join the reigning Ivy League champs next season.

“They were recruiting me, but I was definitely surprised when they offered me and it was definitely something that attracted me, so I commited,” Imegwu said.

Imegwu said the Quakers have been on him throughout his high school career, but they really started to get serious in his recruitment at the beginning of this school year.

He also had offers from Delaware, Lafayette and Fairleigh Dickinson and interest from Ivy League programs like Yale, Princeton, Columbia and Dartmouth. New Hampshire, Furman, Colgate and American were four other programs Imegwu said had interest in him.

Imegwu’s parents both went to Brown, and he said playing at a top academic institution like an Ivy League school has always interested him.

The 6-foot-6, 200-pound wing, who saw Penn play in person against St. Joe’s and in the Ivy League Tournament earlier this year, said Penn coach Steve Donahue’s coaching pedigree and the Quakers’ playing style sold him over other programs.

“Watching the team play, I really like their offensive ability to create open shots and defend,” Imegwu said. “The players also seem to have really good chemistry on the court and with the coaching staff as well.”

The West Orange, New Jersey native put together a strong spring and summer on the AAU circuit with the Jersey Force before wrapping up his high school career with an impressive senior season at Seton Hall Prep this winter.

Imegwu averaged 16.4 points and 5.6 rebounds in 27 games for the Pirates (24-3) this season, according to NJ.com.

“I think he always had the potential to be a Division I player because of the size and athleticism combination,” Jersey Force coach Joe Stein said. “But I think in the past year, playing with us as U17, he got to do a lot more...I think people saw him do a lot more than just make shots or play a couple minutes.”

Imegwu said he has always been a talented 3-point shooter. Stein has watched him work hours and hours on perfecting his shooting stroke. Imegwu knocked down 66 3-point shots, or about two and a half deep balls per game, for Seton Hall Prep this season.

“He was able to get to the corners and hit drive and kick threes, but then he could also ram it down your throat with a dunk on the break,” Stein said.

Knowing, he would have to create more for himself out on the perimeter at the college level, Imegwu worked on expanding his offensive game during the summer and fall.

That included working on his ball handling to take defenders off the bounce. It also included working on the ability to score at all three levels, which Stein saw when he watched Imegwu several times this high school season.

“I’m a very good 3-point shooter, but I was able to create a really good mid range game as well, create a lot of shots off the dribble,” Imegwu said. “I can shoot it from anywhere on the court, but I can also get to the rim, dunk the ball, all that stuff.”

The Quakers lose five seniors from this year’s group, including two of the team’s top scorers in guards Darnell Foreman and Caleb Wood. They should bring back four starters and three of the other eight players who averaged more than 10 minutes per game, including freshman guard Eddie Scott, who played just nine games after going down with a wrist injury.

Imegwu joins 6-foot-9 forward Michael Wang, a three-star recruit from Mater Dei (CA), as part of the Quakers’ 2018 class. Minutes may be hard to come by, but Donahue showed this season, he’s not afraid to play a lot of guys. Twelve Quakers saw action in 20-or-more games.

“Watching Penn play, they’re definitely a team that can create a lot of open shots, so I think I can come in and complement that offense,” Imegwu said.