CHAPMANVILLE, W.Va. — One of the Mountain State’s more decorated recruits on the hardwood over the last decade will be staying nearby.
Chapmanville senior Obinna Anochili-Killen signed a letter-of-intent Wednesday to prolong his basketball career at Marshall University.
“It’s just a perfect fit for me basketball wise and academic wise,” Anochili-Killen said. “They have what I want to do which is engineering. I like coach (Dan) D’Antoni’s style of play, up and down the court, dribble, pass and shoot. It’s more like an NBA offense. He’s the kind of guy that can take you places.”
Anochili-Killen (6-foot-9, 205 pounds) has helped lead the Tigers to consecutive Class AA state championships and had a memorable performance in last season’s title game, a 60-46 victory over Fairmont Senior in which Anochili-Killen finished with 12 points, 12 rebounds and eight blocks
The athleticism and length of Anochili-Killen should help ease his transition to the next level, while the newest member of the Herd program said he hopes to continue expanding his game during his senior campaign.
“The past two or three years, I’ve been more of an inside player,” Anochili-Killen said. “But I’ll get double teamed and triple teamed a lot down there this year, and we’ve talked about having fewer guards this year. I’ll have to come out some and be a threat out there.
“I believe my 3-point shot has improved and my ball-handling control too. My outside game has improved and I worked on it all this summer. The coaches and players trust me to execute it and I don’t want to let them down.”
Anochili-Killen said he chose Marshall over Cincinnati, Virginia Commonwealth, South Florida and Temple, while he drew interest from a number of other Division I schools.
“One of the state’s best chose Marshall,” D’Antoni said in a school release. “It’s good for Marshall and it’s good for him. I think he made a wise choice. He’s going to be playing in front people who have cared for him the last four years. It should be exciting times and he made us a lot better.”
The proximity of Chapmanville to Huntington also helped Anochili-Killen settle on Marshall.
“Marshall is a place that’s kind of like a second home,” he said. “There are people there that I know and have been my fans. Going to Marshall is going to help me in the long run.”