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If there is one word coach Mike Divilbiss would use to describe Yinka Olorunnife, it would be passionate, and enthusiasm isn’t far behind.
“It’s enthusiasm and passion that makes her great,” Divilbiss said. “Passion, that’s what you win with, and I don’t think great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. I think she’s full of that.”
The freshman came to Moscow from Windsor, Ontario, Canada and has made an immediate impact on the Vandal women’s basketball team. She has started 19 of the Vandal’s 22 games and found the transition from high school to college easy for her.
“It’s nothing for me because of the team I played on last year,” Olorunnife said.
Olorunnife spent her senior year away from her family in Windsor playing for the National Elite Development Academy in Toronto. The team gathered 12 girls from throughout Canada and moved them to Toronto to practice and play together as a team.
“We traveled and played together, as a junior national team for that year,” Olorunnife said.
The NEDA was only allowed to play college teams because of an unfair advantage a recruited team might have on regular high school teams. While playing with NEDA, Olorunnife said the team played against the No. 1 Canadian team and beat them twice.
It was her coach at NEDA, a good friend of Divilbiss, who alerted him of the natural talent Olorunnife possessed.
“She said she was really raw and needed some skill development — which is our strength — and really athletic,” Divilbiss said.
Divilbiss said Olorunnife has adapted well to playing collegiate basketball. She plays with many emotions because she enjoys the game and will only improve as she gains more poise, he said.
Olorunnife, an Australian citizen who moved with her family to Canada in December 2003, has been playing basketball most of her life.
Her mother, a head chef at a local hospital in Windsor and her father, who is a businessman, moved to Canada to take advantage of better opportunities for their children and themselves.
“There were better job opportunities, better opportunities for my parents and for us — school-wise too,” Olorunnife said.
Olorunnife is close with her three sisters Abbey, Alice and Tosin, who live in Canada. Her youngest sister, Tosin, who is eight, is already showing promise of following in her older sister’s basketball footsteps.
“She’s pretty tall for her age,” Olorunnife said, “and she’s always saying she wants to be like me.”
One sibling that Olorunnife said most people don’t know about is her half-sister, Seyi, who still lives with her mother in Australia. Olorunnife said the two are very close and talk almost every day.
Since becoming a Vandal, Olorunnife, who is a nutrition major, has averaged almost 10 points and seven rebounds per contest, but the team is still looking for a second conference win.
The youngest of seven freshmen, Olorunnife said the youthfulness of the team has worked out surprisingly well for the team.
“(Team chemistry) is great; we’re all new,” Olorunnife said. “We all get along well and it’s all worked out for the best.”
Olorunnife said the best game of the season thus far was the team’s win against Utah State in overtime, 70-64.
“It was a win for us and I played well,” Olorunnife said.
She had her first double-double as a Vandal and the team won their first Western Athletic Conference game.
Olorunnife said the team has continued to improve throughout this season and she is looking forward to finishing strong at the WAC tournament in March.
“I want to (play) our heart out, prove to all the teams in the WAC what we’re going to be like next year,” Olorunnife said.
Olorunnife, who lived in Windsor with 250,000 people, and Toronto with over 1 million people, was shocked when she realized how small Moscow was.
“I didn’t realize this was it, but I’ve adjusted and I’m used to it,” Olorunnife said.
Olorunnife said she enjoys painting in her spare time, shopping and hanging out with friends.
Her teammates have become like another family for her in Moscow, and she enjoys spending time with them off the court
as well.
“I like company,” Olorunnife said. “I don’t like being alone — it’s boring.”
Olorunnife has enjoyed being a student-athlete for the Vandals.
“I like the feeling of knowing you are representing the school. It’s cool,” Olorunnife said.
The youth of Idaho’s team showed in the beginning of the season, as the team didn’t win a game until late December, but both Olorunnife and Divilbiss have seen tremendous growth throughout this season.
“Compare our first few games to our games now, we’re actually in games and competing and doing what coach envisioned us to do,” Olorunnife said.
“We’re actually a basketball team now, before we were just playing basketball and now we’re actually basketball
players.”
Divilbiss said it has given him tremendous hope as a coach to see the enthusiasm and fire in his group of freshmen.
“They are our future and they are going to be really fun to work with, develop and grow with them,” Divilbiss said.
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