Freshman Tim Ibukunoluwa brings 'relentless' style of play from Australia to Siena basketball

LOUDONVILLE - To end the first day of practice , Siena men's basketball freshman Tim Ibukunoluwa received a pass at halfcourt, took one dribble and found teammate Reid Ducharme cutting down the left wing for a reverse layup.

Ibukunoluwa and Ducharme jumped and bumped chests to celebrate the basket that lifted the white team over the green team in a scrimmage on the final play of Tuesday's workout.

"Especially after (we) probably didn't have the best practice as the white team, missing a couple bunnies, but feel like that was really good to get that one in the end," Ibukunoluwa said.

Ibukunoluwa, a 6-foot-8, 215-pound Australian, was impressive in the final half-hour that was open to the media. He grabbed several offensive rebounds, including a follow-up dunk, and also passed to classmate Parrish Edmond Jr. for a slam.

"Yeah, Tim's an animal," graduate guard Brendan Coyle said. "He can play pretty much wherever you want him to. Step out and hit a 3, and he rebounds like a madman. You know, Tim kind of does a little bit of everything, and it's been really great to see."

Siena coach Nevada Smith, who's not shy about setting high expectations for his players, said Ibukunoluwa could be the best rebounder in the Metro Conference this season. He has a 6-foot-11 wingspan.

"His effort is relentless," Smith said. "He's going to rebound the ball at a high rate. I don't know if there's a better rebounder in our league than him. It'll be interesting to see. I personally think he's the best."

Smith also praised Ibukunoluwa's versatility. He said the freshman will sometimes be the biggest player on the court for the Saints but can also make plays with the ball in his hands.

Ibukunoluwa said he learned those guard skills before he had his growth spurt. He also got sound advice from his two older brothers - Josh, who is a 6-foot-10, 230-pound junior forward at Bradley University, and John, who played at Division II West Virginia Wesleyan.

They're the sons of Nigerian parents who moved to Perth, Australia, for job opportunities.

"They've seen how the game's evolving and they told me early, you've got to be able to play at both ends of the court, defense and offense, and guard 1 (point guard) through 5 (center)," Tim Ibukunoluwa said.

He spent the past two years playing for the Willeton Tigers in NBL1, which is Australia's top semiprofessional league. He moved to Canada last winter to compete for Orangeville Prep in Ontario, the same path that Josh Ibukunoluwa took.

"More exposure to scouts and just getting set into the college mindset," Tim Ibukunoluwa explained.

He discovered Siena through an Australian teammate whose management put him in touch with Saints assistant Matt Blue, who previously coached at the NBA Global Academy in Australia.

He did his homework on Siena, which won the Metro Conference under former coach Gerry McNamara.

"I didn't know much about Siena, but after my research, I saw what they did last year, obviously, with G-Mac and what they did this year. Nevada was, like, a really good coach, has great history and all the other coaches do as well," Ibukunoluwa said.

He chose Siena after also looking at Radford and Bowling Green.

"I just thought I'd get the most playing time here," he said. "The culture here is very good as well. They were very nice to my family."

Ibukunoluwa said he always wanted to play college basketball in the United States because "this is the spot." His brother Josh has advised him to adjust to the American game by being very assertive and not losing confidence in his game.

"I feel like that's just a big part of my game, my motor," Tim Ibukunoluwa said. "I'm just going to keep on going. Nothing's going to stop me from rebounding the ball."