If you watched Oluchi Okananwa’s final game as a Duke Blue Devil, it would have been easy to miss her.
Most offensive possessions, she was relegated to spotting up in the corner, often stretching her hands out calling for a pass but being ignored. The No. 1-seed South Carolina Gamecocks — victors over the Terps in the previous round — were tenacious. Okananwa didn’t score until 3:30 remained in the third quarter, when she got out on a fast break in a blur and laid the ball in with her right hand.
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Thirteen minutes later, Duke’s season ended — and though Okananwa didn’t know it at the time, so did her career in Durham. She entered the transfer portal on April 11, 2025.
“The first call I had after I realized I would be transferring was a three way call with my mom and brother, I just kind of broke down to be honest,” Okananwa said. “It’s a tough decision, no one ever wants something to not work out.”
A year later, the flashy guard has become the number one option at Duke’s historic rival and earned a spot on the All-Big Ten First Team. In an era where the record for transfer portal entries is broken every offseason and former professionals with fizzled-out careers are returning to the NCAA, Okananwa is an example of the best the portal has to offer.
“When you’re in the transfer portal there are no guarantees, I think it’s sometimes tragic when you see a player not get the right fit,” Maryland head coach Brenda Frese said. “It was a perfect fit for us with Oluchi.”
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The same day she entered her name into the portal, Frese reached out to Okananwa. In high school, she was coached by Sherry Levin, a close friend of Frese’s who had put Okananwa on the coach’s radar years ago.
Okananwa leaned on continued conversations with her family and her Christian faith to make her final decision. A week after entering the portal, she informed On3 she was headed to College Park to play for the Terps. Frese instantly saw the fit on the floor.
“She will thrive in our up-tempo style, because she can really get up and down the floor,” Frese said in an April 2025 press release announcing Okananwa’s transfer.
She was right — Okananwa has thrived and then some. It wasn’t immediately clear what kind of role she would have on a team packed with guards. But when Kaylene Smikle, Bri McDaniel and Lea Bartelme were all ruled out for the season with knee injuries, Okananwa had to take over.
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“I’m someone who loves pressure, I think pressure makes diamonds,” Okananwa said. “I don’t back down from anything.”
At Duke, it was clear Okananwa was an elite defensive stopper, but her offensive role didn’t see much progression from her freshman to sophomore year. She averaged just under 10 points per game across two seasons and was often relegated to an off-the-ball role, relying on her teammates to get her involved.
Frese’s typical combination of the full-court press and emphasis on running in transition off of makes and misses unlocked a different level of offensive production in Okananwa. She led the conference in fast break points and finished second in steals, averaging 17.7 total points and 2.3 steals per game.
“I love getting steals,” Okananwa said. “It’s just easy cookies, easy points off of a job well done [defensively].”
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Okananwa said she realized how well she fit Frese’s style in the team’s first conference game against Wisconsin. She swiped six steals and scored 28 points — then a career-high — torturing the Badger’s guards in the backcourt.
Off the court, she has also been able to seamlessly integrate into Frese’s player-led culture of accountability.
“Truthfully, she just lets me be me, it’s not some magic secret sauce,” Okananwa said. “I’m perfectly okay with taking responsibility for things and I think she realizes that.”
Many players don’t find the fit that Okananwa has, not even those that transfer to Maryland.
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After three years of playing minimal minutes at UConn, post player Amari DeBerry transferred to the Terps before the 2024-25 season hoping to fill a longtime void of her position in College Park. Instead, her senior year played out much like her first three — she failed to find a consistent role in Frese’s rotation.
Okananwa’s transition has been seamless, though. For her, finding a successful match only happens when team and player have an equal partnership.
“The grass is green wherever you water it. No one should be transferring expecting things handed to them on a silver platter,” Okananwa said. “It’s going to take two, you have to meet God, you have to meet your coaches, you have to meet everyone halfway.”
