Precious Achiuwa

Achiuwa was born Sep. 19, 1999 in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. His mother, Eunice, and his father, Donatus, are both Pentecostal ministers. He has three brothers -- God'sgift, God'swill and Promise -- and two sisters -- Grace and Peace. God'sgift played college basketball for St. John's from 2011 to 2014. Precious grew up mainly playing soccer but shifted his focus to basketball in eighth grade, which is when he moved to the United States. During his sophomore and junior years of high school, he played for St. Benedict's Prep in Newark, New Jersey and averaged 18.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, 2.9 blocks and 2.2 steals per game as a junior. He was named to the MaxPreps Junior All-American second team. For his senior campaign, Achiuwa transferred to Montverde Academy, a prep school in Montverde, Florida. There, he averaged 14.0 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, helping the team reach the semifinals at the GEICO High School Nationals. He received various accolades, including USA Today All-USA third team membership. Achiuwa played in the 2019 McDonald's All-American Game, scoring a game-high 22 points, and also played in the 2019 Nike Hoop Summit. He played college basketball at Memphis, where he was named AAC Player of the Year as a freshman, and opted to declare for the 2020 NBA Draft after the season. While Achiuwa often took a backseat to Penny Hardaway's much-hyped recruiting class entering his freshman season at Memphis, the 6-9 forward changed those perceptions by immediately becoming an integral part of the team. Top overall recruit James Wiseman ended up playing just three games on the season, but Achiuwa was up to the significant task of replacing his high level of production. He ended up averaging 15.8 points and 10.8 rebounds, collecting 18 double-doubles along the way. Achiuwa scored a college career high of 25 points twice, but arguably his best game was Feb. 29 against Tulane, when he tallied up 22 points, 22 rebounds and five blocks. Achiuwa ultimately led the American conference in total rebounds on his way to winning both AAC Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year honors. He didn't miss a game the entire season and was still second in the conference in shooting percentage (.493). Achiuwa brought it on the defensive end as well, finishing third in the conference with 1.9 blocks per game and leading the way in defensive win shares.