Texas Tech’s ‘captain’ Norense Odiase using basketball to overcome grief

Texas Tech senior center Norense Odiase thinks about his cousins every day.

Esosa Oyemwense and Osaretin Igbinedion died in an automobile accident last month in Lubbock, and it’s been a trying time for the 23-year-old out of North Crowley High School.

“It’s hard to channel it at this time,” Odiase said last week at the Big 12 basketball tournament in Kansas City, Mo. “I still think about it every day. I still battle, but just playing for these guys is pushing me every day.”

Odiase has been using basketball as an escape from the tragic realities over the past month.

Nobody would’ve blamed him if he sat out Texas Tech’s game on Feb. 16 against Baylor, a day after the accident occurred.

But Odiase played, and he helped the Red Raiders to a 86-61 victory that day in Lubbock.

“It’s good not to think about it,” Odiase said of using basketball as an outlet from his heartbreak. “I really just distract myself.”

Coach Chris Beard refers to Odiase as Texas Tech’s “captain,” and Odiase will certainly set the tone with the Red Raiders preparing for another run in the NCAA Tournament.

Texas Tech (26-6) is a 3-seed in the West Region, and will face 14-seed Northern Kentucky on Friday in Tulsa, Oklahoma. If the Red Raiders advance, they’ll meet the winner of Buffalo and Arizona State/ St. John’s with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line Sunday.

Odisase has started all 31 games he’s played, missing just a non-conference game against the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in late December. He’s averaging 4 points, 5.1 rebounds and 17.1 minutes per game.

Those numbers might not jump off the page, but Odiase is more of an unsung hero for the Red Raiders. At 6-foot-9, 255 pounds, he’s an inside force to be reckoned with at both ends of the floor.

Beard predicted Odiase would become one of the best stories in college basketball before the season, and that has come to fruition. Odiase is a significant reason the Red Raiders are the co-regular season champions of the Big 12, and the only Top 10 team from the conference going into the Big Dance.

Several feel Texas Tech, ranked No. 9 in the latest Associated Press poll, could emerge as the Final Four team out of the West Region. The Red Raiders are seemingly the Big 12’s best hope to have a Final Four team for the third time in the last four seasons (Oklahoma in 2016 and Kansas in 2018).

“Norense is the captain of our team,” Beard said. “We just won the Big 12 regular-season championship, I think that’s about all I can say about Norense. He’s a leader.”

Beard went on to say the redshirt senior has dealt with everything in his five years with the Red Raiders.

Odiase went through a coaching change when Beard took over for Tubby Smith before the 2016-17 season. Odiase has battled through injuries. He’s changed his body type. He’s changed his style of play.

All of it has Beard believing Odiase’s playing days are far from over whenever March Madness comes to an end for the Red Raiders.

“I think he’s a pro,” Beard said. “I think Norense will make a lot of money playing basketball after college.”

Odiase is an easy guy to root for that to happen because of everything stated above.

In an era of the transfer portal, he stayed true to one program despite a coaching change. He didn’t bail when foot injuries cost him significant time his sophomore season in 2015-16, or essentially the entire 2016-17 season when he played three games and received a medical redshirt.

He’s come back and played in 68 combined games the past two seasons, helping the Red Raiders reach the Elite Eight for the first time in program history last year.

Now, in the midst of dealing with personal grief, Odiase is focused on getting the Red Raiders even deeper this time around. It’s been an up-and-down season with everything that’s happened, and he’d love to end it on an “up.”

“I lean on these guys to build me up,” Odiase said. “It’s been just a hard season mentally and emotionally, obviously more things bigger than basketball.

“But these guys are family and were able to pick me up.”

This story was originally published March 20, 2019 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Texas Tech’s ‘captain’ Norense Odiase using basketball to overcome grief."