July 11, 2012
By Michael Eldridge and Taylor Wright | UTAMavs.com
ARLINGTON, Texas - Former UT Arlington forward Derrick Obasohan contributed 11 points to help propel his country of Nigeria to its first ever Olympic qualification in basketball. Nigeria claimed the final Olympic qualifying spot with an 88-73 victory over the Dominican Republic on July 8.
"I can't wait to take it all in," Obasohan said. "Not only for me but for my family, my mom gets to call back and tell my family that I am an Olympian that is going to be representing Nigeria."
Obasohan, who played for UTA from 2000 to 2004, is one of two former Mavericks that will circle the track during the opening ceremonies of this year's Olympics in London, England. He joins Canadian track and field athlete Jared Connaughton who graduated from UTA in 2006.
"It's amazing," UTA basketball coach Scott Cross said. "I think it's a tremendous honor for him. To have him competing for a medal in the Olympics and representing his country just shows that we do have big time college athletes playing in our basketball program."
Nigeria and Obasohan will compete in group A of the preliminary round joining the United States, Tunisia, Lithuania, France and Argentina. Nigeria takes on Tunisia in the opening game of the group on July 29 at 9:00 a.m. CDT.
When it comes to the Olympic spectacle, Obasohan said that he is looking forward to getting to take part in the tradition and see some of the top athletes compete such as Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps. Inside of the court he said he is looking forward to the players that will be on opposite sides of him.
"Playing in the same group as the United States and being a starting point guard it means that I am going to get to defend players like Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant," he said. "I will get to play alongside some of the best players in the world."
Obasohan became the first player in Mavs history to earn the Southland Conference Men's Basketball Freshman of the Year award in the 2000-01 season. He played 22 minutes per game, sixth most on the team, and recorded two back-to-back double-double games that year. In his senior year, Obasohan entered the record books by becoming only the 16th Maverick to reach the 1,000 point-club and finished with 1,308 career points. He was named to the first team All-Southland Conference in 2004.
"He's a hard worker and he obviously led us when he was here," Cross said. "We tied for a championship in Derrick's senior year, which most people forget about, but that team was unbelievable".
After graduation, Obasohan began playing professionally in Germany and has made his way throughout Europe playing in several different leagues. Currently, he is playing for the Venezuelan league team Cocodrilos de Caracas.
