Plenty of schools were interested in Oswin Erhunmwunse when the former Providence Friar entered the transfer portal, but the 6-foot-10 center didn’t take long to make his decision. He knew what he wanted this time around and he knew he could find it with Creighton men’s basketball.
“I just like the culture, the way the system is, and I feel like I can fit in the system,” Erhunmwunse said prior to Thursday’s practice. “Obviously, after my first two years in college, I kind of have a better idea of what I want for myself personally, what I want for myself from a team standpoint, and I feel like Creighton checks all the boxes, so that’s why I decided to come here.”
Erhunmwunse saw — both on film and in person — the way Ryan Kalkbrenner and Jasen Green (filling in at center last year) thrived in Creighton’s system, and he felt he could do the same.
Erhunmwunse entered his name in the transfer portal with a do-not-contact tag on April 7 and announced his commitment to Creighton one day later. The Bluejays recruited him heavily out of high school before he chose Providence, so he had already visited Omaha and built a relationship with the coaching staff, particularly assistant coach Derek Kellogg, who has strong ties in the northeast.
Oswin Erhunmwunse (55) dunks during a practice on July 7, 2026. Photo by Brandon Tiedemann.
“I think he knew right away, as long as we could get kind of on the same page with all the logistics, that it would make sense,” Coach Alan Huss said. “He knew the place, he knew the culture, he knew the city, he knew the university. I think the relationship that Coach Kellogg had with him and his family and his people who are close to him — Coach Kellogg, Coach Mac, they’ve done a lot of the work there that made it easy for us to just kind of fall into that.”
Erhunmwunse is one of three transfers on this year’s team who the Bluejays recruited out of high school, and that familiarity had the coaches ahead of the game when it came to determining which transfers would fit what they’re trying to do from both an on-court and a culture standpoint.
“Oftentimes in the world of transfer portal recruiting, the part that gets sacrificed is the long-term relationships and the reconnaissance work you get to do on not only the type of student-athlete they are, but their family and the people closest to them that they share information with,” Huss said. “The fact that we had long-standing relationships with those guys, prior relationships with those guys, makes that piece of it quite a bit easier and quite a bit more thorough. So I think bringing the right guys in the building allows you to get to that culture piece so much quicker than if you just kind of come in blindly and you don’t know exactly what you’re getting your hands on.”
Erhunmwunse played in 65 games at Providence with 55 starts, averaging 6.8 points and 7.0 rebounds in 22.6 minutes per game. As a sophomore, he ranked third in blocks (2.1 per game) and fourth in rebounding (8.3 per game) in the Big East. After a season without a rim protector, the Creighton coaches prioritized Erhunmwunse and made him the first transfer portal commitment of the Huss era.
“The beautiful thing about Oswin is we’ve got proof of concept,” Huss said. “He’s been an elite rim protector, elite rebounder in our league, and so in the world of transfer portal, I don’t know that you can get a better look at someone than someone from your league that’s been through the exact schedule that we’re trying to navigate right now. I think we’re all pleased with the way he’s developed. He really picks things up at a high level, picks things up quickly. I think that’s been the biggest surprise is just what a sponge he is, and his capacity and willingness to learn has made things go really easily for him.”
The big man from Benin City, Nigeria, attended Putnam Science Academy in Connecticut for high school before spending two seasons at Providence. Remaining in Big East country was important to Erhunmwunse, who said he wants to become a “legend in the Big East” alongside the likes of Kalkbrenner, Eric Dixon, Zuby Ejiofor and Tarris Reed.
“We’ve had a lot of good bigs coming out the league, so I want to be one of them, maybe better than all of them,” Erhunmwunse said. “That’s my goal.”
Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner (11) drives to the basket against Oswin Erhunmwunse during a college basketball game on Jan. 14, 2025. Photo by John S. Peterson.
While Erhunmwunse offered high praise for the man who will one day have his jersey hanging in the CHI Health Center rafters in Kalkbrenner, he also shared a memory from early in his career that was a bit less deferential.
“I remember dunking on him my freshman year; that’s about it,” Erhunmwunse said. “I remember that for sure.”
Erhunmwunse has put the explosiveness that allowed him to dunk on one of the best rim protectors in Big East history on full display during summer workouts, something for which his guards are grateful.
“I’ve been blessed; I’ve played with pretty good big men throughout my career, and he’s definitely up there,” South Florida transfer Wes Enis said. “His ability to jump and put his head on the rim is unreal, and then you can get beat and blown by, and then he can send it out of bounds. That’s good to have behind me, so it’s awesome.”
According to his head coach, the key for Erhunmwunse to take the next step as a player is simply to play more. He logged just 20.1 minutes per game as a freshman and 25.0 as a sophomore. Foul trouble played a factor in that (6.0 fouls per 40 minutes as a freshman, 5.3 this past season), and that’s one area he’ll need to address. However, Huss is focused more on the underlying issue.
“He’s just got to get in better shape and he’s got to be more disciplined,” Huss said. “We spend a lot of time looking at leverage numbers, and Oswin, his impact on Providence’s team last season on both sides of the floor when he was on the floor versus off was one of the statistics we really leaned into when we were trying to put our roster together. They were an elite defense while he was on the floor, and they really struggled defensively when he was off the floor, so I think he’s naturally kind of there on the defensive end.
“He’s just got to get his body in a little bit better shape, and he’s got to be able to play with a little bit more discipline, which again I think is largely affected by his conditioning there and, at times, his lack thereof conditioning. That’s when some of the undisciplined plays happen is when he gets fatigued. So for Oswin, so much of it is just being out there. Figure out a way to be out there for 30 minutes and great things are going to happen for our team.”
Erhunmwunse has roughly three months to continue acclimating to Creighton’s system and improving his fitness before he makes his debut in a Bluejay jersey. The junior said he’s looking forward to showing the Creighton fans what he’s capable of.
“I’m just excited to play for them and win a lot of games for them and get them jumping for real,” Erhunmwunse said.
