Kerwin Okoro has elevated his game since the end of the high school season and played well at the Pittsburgh Hoop Group Jam Fest over the weekend.
Could his performance at the Petersen Center be a glance into the future? While Okoro’s recruitment is wide open, the St. Raymond junior wing received an offer from Pittsburgh on Tuesday.
“I feel great,” Okoro said. “I guess I’ve been playing real well that they’ve decided to do that. I just appreciate the opportunity and I’m going to continue to work hard.”
Okoro, who was named second team all-city by The Post, averaged 13.6 points per game, helping lead the Ravens to the CHSAA Class AA intersectional semifinals despite playing with a badly injured right thumb throughout the season.
“It was hard playing with that injury and I was just trying to do other things on the court other than just score, but lately I’ve been working my perimeter game a lot,” Okoro said. “My touch is starting to come back and I’m shooting the ball real good.”
Now healthy, the 6-foot-5 Okoro has dramatically improved his shooting over the past few weeks and college coaches are noticing the difference.
“In open gyms, guys are coming to watch [Daniel] Dingle and leaving impressed with Kerwin’s game because he’s been shooting it well,” St. Raymond coach Oliver Antigua said.
Okoro, who also has offers from Iowa State, Arizona and Seton Hall, is also being recruited by Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Auburn. But Antigua thinks Pittsburgh could be an ideal fit.
“I think he’s a perfect guy in the Pitt system because they play a lot of guards and they play a lot of guys in multiple positions,” Antigua said. “I think that’s why Pitt is really intrigued by him.”
Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon came in to see Okoro work out during the first week of the live period and on Tuesday assistant coach Brandin Knight came back to The Bronx to offer the scholarship.
“Everyone I talk to love his ball-handling, size and toughness,” Antigua said. “And when they see him knock his shots down they know he can keep defenses honest. If he becomes a great shooter he’ll be ridiculous.”
While he got to check out the city and the campus over the weekend, Okoro said he doesn’t have a visit lined up at Pittsburgh just yet and he doesn’t have a timetable on when he’d like to pick a school.
For now, his focus is on winning as many AAU tournaments as possible with the Long Island Lightning and improving physically.
“I’m putting a big emphasis on getting my body in better shape, my conditioning and also working on my perimeter skills, as in my ball-handling and shooting,” Okoro said.