Osayi Osifo Sophomore Season Update

After being a generally smaller and under-athletic team by SEC standards over the last few seasons the Gators have been making a concentrated effort to get longer and bouncier, a large reason they went after Osayi Osifo who committed to them shortly after getting the offer. Osifo just completed his sophomore season at JUCO power Eastern Florida State College, giving us a rare chance to see a future Gators compete against college competition, including multiple future D1 players in that league. To properly understand Osifo’s game, I went through and watched every minute he played this past season, taking notes and tracking trends throughout the year. Here is what I saw, and what you can expect when he comes to Gainesville in 2020-21.

Stats

10.6 Points
7.5 Rebounds
0.4 Assists
0.6 Steals
0.5 Blocks
1.9 Turnovers
54% FG
28% 3PT
69% FT

Offense

As one of the featured players on the Eastern Florida State College Titans he got the opportunity to post up a good amount, as well as get some face up isolations from the mid post. This is clearly something he loves to do, so let’s start by evaluating those elements of his game. First off, as a post up player, he’s still really raw. He shot 41% on post ups on the season, approaching a somewhat average number, but a lot of the time his makes were in switches or against much smaller players. At 6’8” with an over 7’0” wingspan he’s a lot longer than a lot of the competition he faced and he took advantage of that size at times, but he struggled when faced with a player of similar stature. The concerning element of his as a post up player is his decision making. Osifo turned the ball over on 32% of his post up possessions, a mammoth number that really hurt his efficiency on those possessions. Those turnovers took place in all kinds of fashions, whether it was travels on loose footwork, trying to lob a pass out to the perimeter, or getting the ball ripped away when he took too many dribbles. There were a lot of these same problems on his isolation attempts as turnovers were a regular problem, and his efficiency in finishing the plays wasn’t great either.

After not hitting threes as a freshman, despite taking them, he has started to knock down the occasional three. His percentage still isn’t great, and his form is a little bit clunky, but there was at least some improvement there and the Gators can hope that upward trajectory continues towards next season.

Most of Osifo’s points came as a play finisher, someone who caught the ball near the rim and used his length and jumping ability to finish. While he definitely had some eye popping finishes after catching lobs, he still has a lot of work to do when it comes to offense around the rim. Osifo struggled to finish against contact, a common trend in his game whether it be off drop off passes from guards or when he drove the basketball. He still has a sleight frame that could have some muscle added, but right now his ability to adjust after taking a bump isn’t quite there and it meant a lot of missed layups around the rim.

Transition was where Osifo was most effective and his rim running resulted in some easy points when he beat his opposing player down the floor. Osifo definitely doesn’t lack for energy and plays with a good motor and when he ran the floor good things happened.

Defense

As a freshman Osifo was still really learning the defensive side of basketball, understand angles and when to make certain rotations. Watching him as a sophomore there are definitely improvements there and you can see that he is thinking the defensive game at a much higher level.

However, for a player of his length and leaping ability, he truthfully is still leaving you wanting more on the defensive end. He was a good defensive player, but not one that was a major lockdown guy or someone who totally changed the game with his play on that side of the floor. As a perimeter defender there were players that were seemingly slower than him who were able to get the step on him semi-regularly, and he wasn’t showing the rim protection you would project from a player with his length.

Eastern Florida State College did some full court pressing and it was something he looked comfortable in, and though the Gators haven’t implemented that style of defense a ton it’s something that Mike White likely wants to do and Osifo’s experience in that defense could help.

In the junior college ranks there are a good number of post up players Osifo went against and he did extremely well guarding these actions, using his length to bother hook shots or turnaround jumpers his opponents were attempting.

When it came to defensive rebounding Osifo was fairly disciplined in boxing out, and even when he didn’t he had the length and leaping ability to go up in traffic and get the ball, something the Gators could certainly use. Florida has struggled to rebound the ball recently and if Osifo could help secure the defensive glass there will definite be value added there.

Encouraging Signs

Osifo was a late comer to basketball, only starting to play in high school. When I watched him play as a JUCO freshman he was extremely raw and there has been definite improvement from that point to where he was at the end of his sophomore season and that forward progress is certainly encouraging. He’s starting to understand team concepts better, he’s setting better screens offensively, and his defensive rotations have really improved. When Florida offered him they didn’t want him for the player he was at the time, they were interested in the player he would become, and he has been improving.

Everyone who knows of Osifo speaks extremely high of him as a person and says he is an extremely hard worker and that hard work seems to be yielding positive results.

Concerns

A lot of my concerns are related to the fact that he is still raw on both ends and I can’t really point to any element of his game as something that I think will instantly translate to SEC basketball. His offensive game revolved a lot around being the bigger and longer player than his competition, with tons of his points coming at the free throw line. When he’s playing against Tennessee or Kentucky or South Carolina, that’s not going to be the case and he’ll be forced to finish against physical players and that’s something he had lots of trouble with. Finishing through contact was an issue for him and that really hurts the projection of him as a high major basketball player.

Another concern is that a lot of his offense came in transition, and if next year is anything like this year he’s not going to have many opportunities to do that in Florida’s offense. It’s likely they’ll want to try to get out and run more often, but considering that hasn’t been the case for two seasons it’s tough to suggest next year will be different and we may just have to believe it when we see it.

Considering he’s not projecting to be an impactful offensive player he’d have to be a really solid defender to offset that, and I don’t think that’s going to be the case either. He’s still growing on that end and he may certainly reach the ceiling of elite defender but based on what I saw this season I wouldn’t predict him being a great defender next season.

One overarching concern that I have is that Osifo isn’t a great functional athlete yet. He has explosive leaping ability, and that’s fantastic in some scenarios, but he doesn’t have the functional athleticism that helps him in the regular elements of basketball. He didn’t have the lateral quickness to be a great perimeter defender, and he didn’t have the first step to beat other big men off drives. He also lacked the body control to take contact, adjust, and then finish near the rim. That isn’t to suggest he won’t ever be a functional athlete, but I think the expectation regarding his athleticism needs to be tempered. Leaping isn’t everything when it comes to basketball athleticism and he is still rounding out that side of his game.

Outlook

Osifo is on an upward trajectory as a basketball player. He was much better as a sophomore than a freshman, and he was even noticeably better in the second half of the season than the first half which shows the rate in which he is developing. However, based on what I watched in his 31 games this season, I can’t say I would expect him to be a productive part of the rotation next season. A redshirt year could do wonders for him as he continues to grow and learn the game, and hopefully it’s something that he and the coaching staff have discussed. Since he started playing basketball so late he is no where near what he will one day be as a basketball player and using a redshirt year to refine his game could very well be the best option for him and the team, and based off the jump from his freshman to sophomore season I’m sure he’d come off a redshirt year even better and more ready to produce. I can see what the Gators saw in Osifo, but I don’t think his potential has quite yet been reached enough where he can be expected to be a trusted role player. We definitely haven’t seen the best of Osayi Osifo yet, however, and with his work ethic I look forward to finding out what he can be.