Checking into a game on Saturday perhaps never felt so good for JoJo Nworie.
A 6-foot-5 center from Nigeria, Nworie had missed the previous two basketball seasons, as well as the first nine games of this season, with injuries, but she made her Colorado debut in a 76-59 win against Southern Utah on Saturday.
It was Nworie’s first game since the 2021-22 season, when she played for the College of Southern Idaho.
“It felt so good. I’m blessed that I’m back,” she said. “Itap been over two years that I haven’t played, so stepping on the floor was just a blessing. Glad that I’m back and I’m back for good.”
Nworie and the Buffaloes (8-2) will host Denver on Tuesday as she looks to keep the comeback going.
At Southern Idaho in 2021-22, Nworie averaged 12.6 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.9 blocks, while earning NJCAA All-American honors.
She then transferred to Texas Tech, but missed the 2022-23 season because of blood clots. Last year, still with the Red Raiders, she suffered a torn ACL in preseason practice.
This past spring, Nworie put her name in the transfer portal, looking for a fresh start.
“I was scared when I got into the transfer portal,” she said. “They were like, ‘I don’t think you’re gonna see any school that want you.’ JR called me and was like, ‘I’ll take you. I’ll take the risk.’”
CU head coach JR Payne had recruited Nworie out of Southern Idaho and knew Nworie’s potential.
“We really believed in her then,” Payne said. “She’s extremely talented and gifted, and just always believed that she could be a great college player.
“To fight back from the two injuries that she had took a significant amount of heart and desire and work and all of that. If anyone’s willing to work as hard as she did to come back, we knew that she would do it again to be able to get out on the floor.”
The Buffs knew Nworie wouldn’t be ready at the start of the season. In fact, she wasn’t cleared for contact until recently and didn’t go through her first full-court practice until Friday.
“I’ve wanted to play for (Payne) for a long time and I was like, I will take the shot,” Nworie said. “So, I took it and they’ve been patient, just giving me grace. And I kept doing rehab, and I just, you know, kept working harder and harder. I was like, ‘A day like this is gonna come where I’ll be on the court.’ Today was the day.”
Nworie, the tallest player at CU since the 2017-18 season, played 7 minutes, 47 seconds in the win against SUU, scoring five points, pulling down a rebound and blocking a shot. Her first points came on a bank-shot 3-pointer.
“Oh, yeah, I’m a shooter,” she said. “If you leave me wide open, I’ll shoot the ball.”
Nworie said her teammates kept encouraging her to shoot, which “gave me the courage to keep shooting.”
All semester, Nworie and forward Lior Garzon, who share a class, have talked about the day Nworie could finally play.
“When she banked a three, I literally looked at her and I was like, ‘You’re back! Itap actually, like, real now,’” Garzon said.
Nworie didn’t need to hit a shot to lift up her teammates. Just being on the court with them was a big deal.
“Just to be there with us on the court, to feel a part of the team, part of the rotation, I think it was amazing,” Garzon said.
Nworie’s return didn’t come with nerves, she said. In fact, she’s been more than ready mentally for a while.
“I love basketball, so whenever I got a chance to play, I just flow with it,” she said. “All I gotta say is thanks to the coaches for being patient, because it takes a lot to be patient for a player to be out, to come back. They actually have faith in me that once I come back, I’m gonna do great stuff. So I took that in as I stepped on the court and I was like, ‘Let me just make them proud. Just be me, play, have fun and just let it go.’”
CU Buffs women’s basketball vs. Denver
TIPOFF: Tuesday, 7 p.m., CU Events Center
TV/RADIO: ESPN+/KHOW 630 AM
RECORDS: Colorado 8-2; Denver 4-4
COACHES: Colorado — JR Payne, 9th season (151-104; 252-217 career). Denver — Doshia Woods, 5th season (41-80).
KEY PLAYERS: Colorado — F Nyamer Diew, 6-2, Sr. (7.4 ppg, 3.5 rpg); G Frida Formann, 5-10, Sr. (14.7 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 2.5 apg, .455 3Pt%); F Lior Garzon, 6-1, Sr. (12.5 ppg, 3.2 rpg); F Jade Masogayo, 6-3, Jr. (11.4 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 2.1 apg, .554 FG%); G Sara-Rose Smith, 6-1, Sr. (6.7 ppg, 5.8 rpg, .412 3pt%); G Johanna Teder, 5-11, Sr. (5.9 ppg, .564 FG%); G Kindyll Wetta, 5-9, Sr. (5.8 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 6.8 apg, 2.1 spg). Denver — G Jordan Jones, 6-0, Jr. (19.8 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 3.0 apg, 1.6 spg); G Laia Monclova, 6-1, So. (5.7 ppg, 3.1 rpg); G Angelina Robles, 5-5, Jr. (7.9 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 1.3 apg); G Emma Smith, 5-7, Jr. (11.5 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 3.6 apg, 2.0 spg); G Coryn Watts, 5-7, Fr. (4.9 ppg, 1.6 spg).
NOTES: CU is looking for a third consecutive victory as it plays the fourth game of a five-game home stand. … The Buffs are 9-3 all-time against Denver, including 6-0 in Boulder. DU won the last matchup, 85-84, on Dec. 8, 2020, in Denver. … CU guards Kindyll Wetta and Kennedy Sanders missed the Buffs’ game on Saturday with concussions and both are day-to-day going into Tuesday. … DU defeated Portland State, 57-41, on Saturday. … The Pioneers are 0-3 on the road this season.
