An intriguing young guard prospect from the NBA's African youth development program is headed to Wichita State.
 
Head Coach Paul Mills announced the signing of Joy Ighovodja (pronounced ee-VOO-chuh), a 6-foot-4 lefty from Abeokuta, Nigeria who has spent the past two years honing his skills at the NBA Academy Africa in Saly, Senegal alongside some of the continent's top prospects.
 
Mills said:
 
"I am excited to have Joy be a part of Wichita State basketball. Joy has a terrific skillset combined with great length for a guard his size and will be a force for many years to come. He is a product of NBA Academy Africa where his development has made monumental strides. He is being challenged every day by other high-level players who all receive high-level coaching from the Academy. More importantly, Joy is a young man of high character who will represent Shocker basketball well, on and off the court. Please join me in welcoming Joy to Wichita!"
 
With locations in Australia, Mexico, India and Africa, the NBA Academy is a year-round elite basketball development initiative that provides top high school-age prospects from outside the U.S. with a holistic approach to player development and a predictable pathway to maximize their potential. Ighovoidja is one of 16 NBA Africa products who have signed with NCAA Division I schools since the program's 2017 launch.
 
Ighovodja, who began playing competitive basketball just four years ago at age 14, has the physical tools to be a force in college basketball with a wingspan measured at 6-foot-10 and a 39-inch vertical.
 
Over the past two years Ighovodja's development has been turbo charged through his involvement with the BAL Elevate program, which places one promising young NBA Academy Africa prospect on each of the 12 professional teams in the Basketball Africa League – an annual competition patterned after European soccer's Champions League. In order to preserve their amateur status, the 12 Elevate players do not share in the prize money but are given the opportunity to sharpen their skills against older and more experienced athletes.
 
Ighovodja was one of the 12 original prospects selected for BAL Elevate's 2022 launch, competing last spring with REG (Rwanda), and is in the midst of a second go-around (March-May, 2023) with Côte d'Ivoire's ABC Fighters.
 
In July, 2022, Ighovodja helped NBA Academy Africa to a first-place finish at the annual NBA Academy Games -- a series of exhibitions featuring top prospects from outside the U.S. Teams from each of the four NBA academies in Australia, India, Mexico and Senegal compete against each other and other elite select teams under the watchful eyes of NCAA coaches and NBA scouts.
 
Ighovodja has also been involved with the Nigerian Basketball Federation. In the summer of 2019, he helped his home country to a bronze medal at the FIBA U16 African Championship, averaging 8.3 points and 7.7 rebounds in seven tournament games.