Before Samson Usilo was told he might never play basketball again, before he was told he might never jump again, the 6-foot-4 guard was told he could do anything.
“There were expectations, ‘He’s gonna be this. He’s gonna be that,’ ” Usilo recalled hearing. “When I came to college, I felt like I was invincible.”
The freshman, upon arriving at Manhattan, stood out before stepping on the court.
“He was just a freak. He was just a different level player than we’re used to getting,” coach Steve Masiello said. “He’s a guy you envision you’re gonna have for four years as a high-level cornerstone, a pillar of your program that you can build around.”
Usilo’s ACL went first. Then his quad. Then his kneecap. Usilo would never be the same player.
He would never be the same person.
“I’m so at peace,” the fifth-year senior said. “Things change just like that, but having your goals switched right in front of you doesn’t mean you have to kill yourself. There’s always something else that can come out of it. There’s always something else you can do. You can be somebody else.”
The decision was nearly as difficult as the conversation.
Usilo was approaching 15, when he told his mother he wanted to leave their home in Nigeria to play at the famed Mount Zion Christian Academy in Durham, N.C.
His father, Sunday, died when he was 10. His mother, Bose, was the sole supporter of six children.
Basketball could make life better.
“Letting a 15-year-old go to a different country, where I knew nobody, she was nervous, but I made up my mind,” Usilo said. “I had to find a way to make things easier for my family. I tried to be a man at a young age.”
Usilo was a man among teenagers, eventually moving to Staten Island to play at Brooklyn’s Nazareth High School. He led the Kingsmen to the CHSAA Class A City championship. His athleticism and explosiveness attracted interest from numerous high-level programs (including Michigan State and West Virginia) and earned him a spot in the 2014 Jordan Brand Classic Regional showcase game.
Usilo arrived in Riverdale with hype, but without an ACL in his left leg. It had only been discovered when he ruptured his quad in a workout.
“They said it’s one of the worst injuries a basketball player can have,” Usilo said. “But the next year I was back and practicing. It was looking promising, and boom, here we go again.”
The patella in the same leg was broken. He missed his entire sophomore year, too.
“The doctor said it just looks like you have to stop playing basketball,” Usilo said. “He said there were a lot of things I wouldn’t be able to do after the surgery. I wouldn’t ever feel 100 percent anymore.
“People started telling me it’s not such a bad thing if I just went to school, but I wanted to be a college basketball player. Not being able to do that was depressing. My goal, what I wrote on the wall, ‘Sammy, you have to play two seconds of college basketball. Just two seconds.’ It was so important because I didn’t want to ever tell my story and say I never stepped on a college basketball floor. All I needed to do was run up and down. After that, coach could take me out.”
In the fall of 2016, Masiello took Usilo out after five unforgettable minutes in a scrimmage against Georgetown.
“I ran up and down the court, and then I just froze,” Usilo said. “He took me out, and I started crying, and [Masiello] gave me a hug. He understood.”
Rust was evident, but irrelevant. The minutes were limited, but more than he ever needed.
After finally playing his first season as a junior, Usilo was devastated to learn his oldest brother, Lucky, had tragically died in an accident. He returned to be with his family in Nigeria last summer. But while at home for the first time in nearly seven years, Usilo was stunned to learn he wouldn’t be allowed to return to the United States, due to unspecified visa issues.
“With the climate of our country at the time, you knew this could be serious,” Masiello said. “We were trying to do everything, reaching out to politicians, but a lot of people didn’t want to step out and do things. Unfortunately you had to be like that annoying gnat that doesn’t go away. You have to let people know that this is a young man’s life who has done everything right.”
A three-week trip turned into five months of uncertainty. Usilo wasn’t sure he ever would be allowed back. Even with the help of school officials and lawyers, he missed the fall semester — and another season.
“They said I had an issue with U.S. customs, that there was a red flag,” Usilo said. “The whole thing was really upsetting at the time because they wouldn’t tell me what was going on. We just had to wait.
“Eventually they said it was a misunderstanding, and they were sorry, and told me I shouldn’t have any problems going forward.”
Now, Usilo is back in The Bronx, back on the court and back in class, about to complete a degree in civil engineering, having recently been inducted into the engineering school’s honor society.
He was told he could do anything.
“It’s amazing because I didn’t see myself getting to this point, to get everything I have,” said Usilo, who is averaging 3.1 points and 14.4 minutes per game this season. “Engineering is something that can’t be taken away from me. I took the time to study. It wasn’t given to me. I worked for it.
“Now, I’ve got a story to tell. That’s something I think a lot of people are really missing. … The basketball thing is not exactly how I planned it to be, but I never quit. I played until the wheels fell off. When I leave, I’m gonna be proud.”
Games of the Week
St. John’s at Duke (Saturday, Noon)
The Johnnies bought some breathing room with a convincing road win at Creighton, but now face Zion Williamson and the most talented team in the nation. St. John’s enters with the confidence earned from its stunning win over the Blue Devils at the Garden last year, and could ride another upset to an NCAA Tournament berth.
Seton Hall at Butler (Saturday, Noon)
The Pirates ended a four-game losing streak with a desperately needed two-point win Wednesday over Providence, and now head to Indianapolis for their only game of the week. Seton Hall has lost four straight road games, but beat Butler, 76-75, on Jan. 9, behind Myles Powell’s 31 points.
Hofstra at Northeastern (Saturday, 4 p.m.)
The Pride have won four straight games by double-digits, extending their nation-best win streak to 16. The second-place Huskies nearly ended the run on Jan. 5, but Hofstra pulled out a 75-72 win on a buzzer-beating 3 from Justin Wright-Foreman, who finished with 42 points.
Local Power Poll
1. St. John’s
Record: 16-5, 4-5
Up next: Saturday (Noon) at Duke
2. Seton Hall
Record: 13-8, 4-5
Up next: Saturday (Noon) at Butler
3. Hofstra
Record: 19-3, 9-0
Up next: Saturday (4 p.m.) at Northeastern
4. Rutgers
Record: 11-9, 4-6
Up next: Saturday (Noon) at Ohio State
5. NJIT
Record: 18-5, 6-2
Up next: Saturday (7 p.m.) at Liberty
6. Stony Brook
Record: 17-5, 5-2
Up next: Saturday (7 p.m.) at Hartford
7. St. Francis Brooklyn
Record: 13-9, 5-4
Up next: Saturday (3:30 p.m.) at Sacred Heart
8. LIU Brooklyn
Record: 10-11, 4-5
Up next: Saturday (4 p.m.) at Wagner
9. Iona
Record: 7-13, 5-4
Up next: Saturday (1 p.m.) vs. Siena
10. Fordham
Record: 9-12, 0-8
Up next: Wednesday (7 p.m.) at UMass