Former Lobo Morris Udeze excels in his initial pro season in Poland

SOPOT, Poland — Morris Udeze, after playing his last college season with the Lobos a year ago, knew that he wanted to continue his basketball career.

The question was where that would be.

Spain, with one of the top leagues in western Europe, was an option. But the 6-foot-9 post player ended up in northwest Poland with club King in Szczecin, a city of about 390,000 people not far from the German border.

“It’s different. It is very different,” said Udeze, 24, after Game 5 of the best-of-7 championship series June 10 in the Orlen Basketball League (OBL), the best circuit in Poland. “The language, different food, different everything.”

But Udeze, dubbed Uncle Mo and one of the most popular players for the Lobos in 2022-23, had an ace in the hole as he made his pro debut this season.

With Nigerian roots, he lived for three years in that country from the age of 9 to 12. And he is used to moving around: he played most of his school career in Texas, played one season for powerhouse Montverde Academy in Florida and spent four seasons with Wichita State before suiting up at UNM as a graduate student.

“Getting adjusted to (Poland) was kind of easy, I’m not going to lie. I had friends to help,” said Udeze, who carries a Nigerian passport.

Udeze also relied on advice from Los Alamos native Alex Kirk, a former Lobos’ standout who has played overseas since 2014.

Udeze probably could not have chosen a better fit in the 16-team Polish league.

His squad, King, won the title in 2023.

And he has been surrounded by several other Americans with NCAA experience this season.

Other NCAA products on the roster this season included Tony Meier (Milwaukee), Michael Kyser (La. Tech), Avery Woodson (Memphis, Butler), Andrzej Mazurczak (Parkside), Zac Cuthbertson (Coastal Carolina), and Matt Mobley, who ended his college career at St. Bonaventure after starting at Central Connecticut.

“Mo may be the most pro ready player I’ve seen as a rookie,” according to Woodson, a guard from Mississippi. “He’s very mature and professional, you can tell he comes from a great background. I’ve seen so much growth from him in just eight months. He works hard with a super high motor, so I really think the sky is the limit for him in his professional career. On top of that, he’s a great guy to be around, very smart with a good sense of humor.”

Udeze averaged 10.7 points and 4.1 rebounds in 20.7 minutes per contest in the first 42 games for King this season while making 63.5 percent of his shots from the field.

He was eight of eight from the field on Jan. 1 in a regular-season game against Trefl Sopot and he had other games when he was eight of 10 and nine of 11 from the field. He had a season-high 24 points on Nov. 26 in a loss to Czarni.

King had a chance to clinch its second straight title here in Sopot on June 10 — and Szczecin almost pulled it off in dramatic fashion.

Trailing by 15 points late in the fourth quarter, King trimmed the Trefl Sopot lead to 86-84 with 11.4 seconds left. But host Sopot held on for the 88-84 victory in Game 5.

Udeze, who started Game 5, was impressive during the comeback here at Ergo Arena, which holds about 14,000 fans and was about half full June 10.

In a quick stretch in the third quarter, he made a free throw; got an offensive rebound; made another free throw; grabbed a defensive rebound; and secured an offensive rebound and scored — all in 3:34 of playing time.

He ended up with six points and five rebounds in just 14 minutes of play at the multi-venue arena that opened in 2010 with a concert by Lady Gaga.

“Just the will to win,” said Udeze, of his motivation and high motor. “I had seen we were down (45-41 at half). I had to play as hard as I can, score, rebound to help the team. I want to bring energy.”

But King lost Game 6 at home on Thursday and then lost at Sopot on Sunday in the seventh and deciding contest 77-71 in the Polish finals before a crow of 9,689 at Ergo Arena.

Udeze had four points in 15:29 of games action in the finale.

Despite falling short, Udeze did the same things in his first rookie pro season as he did at UNM.

During the 2022-23 season — his only one with the Lobos — Udeze was the Newcomer of the Year in the Mountain West Conference.

He was the only player in the MWC to average a double-double in conference games as he scored 15.9 points and 10.4 rebounds per contest.

ORLEN, the top Polish league, requires that one Polish player is always on the court for both teams. That is a change for about five years ago when two Polish players had to be on the court for each squad.

“Two players for me were too much,” former Polish national team member and ex-Sopot coach and player Marcin Stefanski said before Game 5 here June 10.

He said import players could help young Polish players improve their game under the old system, though the same is also true now — with limited opportunities for Polish players to start.

The salary for American players can vary widely in Poland. According to another American who played in the league this season, an import player can get between $3,000 and $15,000 per month for a season that can extend 10 months. Stefanski, who played in France and Poland, said the most he ever made was about 7,000 Euros per month, or about $7500 per month U.S. currency.

Another New Mexico connection to the Polish league this season was Bryce Alford, the La Cueva High graduate who averaged 14.5 points per contest in 22 games for Arka after he started the 2023-24 campaign with a team in Czechia, formerly called the Czech Republic.

Arka was 9-for-21 and finished 13th out of 16 teams in regular season play while King was 19-11 and was fourth. The top eight teams made the post-season championship round.

A title in his first pro season would have meant a lot to Udeze.

“It is something I dreamed of; to play at a very, very high level, it would be great for my first year,” he said after Game 5.

Udeze spoke courtside after a European tradition — win or lose, the visiting teams approaches the stands to thank their most loyal supporters who made the drive for an away game.

Udeze is already looking to his second pro season. That may mean leaving Poland, though changing countries is common for NCAA standouts who head to Europe.

“We are looking at some good options right now,” he said, referring to his agent.

David Driver, a Virginia native now living in Poland, is the author of “Hoop Dreams in Europe: American Basketball Players Building Careers Overseas.” The book is available on Amazon or the author’s website at daytondavid.com. A member of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA), Driver is the former sports editor of papers in Baltimore and Laurel in Maryland and Arlington and Harrisonburg, in Virginia.