NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Cornell graduate AK Okereke will join Vanderbilt men’s basketball for the 2025-26 season, Mark H. Carter and Family Head Coach Mark Byington announced Wednesday.
A 6-foot-7, 240-pound forward, Okereke averaged 13.9 points and 4.6 rebounds as a junior at Cornell in 2024-25. He also led the Big Red with 120 assists on the season, averaging 4.1 per game.
The versatile Okereke shot 59.5 percent from the floor and 32.1 percent from three as a junior. He led the Ivy League and ranked 18th nationally in field goal percentage. Okereke was also a force on the defensive end, leading Cornell with 31 blocks and 31 steals.
“AK is an extremely important addition to our team,” Byington said. “He is very accomplished on and off the court and is as multi-dimensional as any transfer we evaluated. He can be trusted with the ball in his hands because he makes great decisions. He is a very good passer and playmaker, and it’s unique because of his size and physical presence.
“As good as he is right now, I see where his basketball development can go to other levels. It is extremely exciting to be able to coach someone with that talent and potential.”
Okereke graduated from Cornell in three years with a degree in economics. He began his collegiate basketball career as a walk-on and played three seasons for the Big Red, averaging 9.8 points per game over his career.
Okereke scored a career-high 30 points against Yale in February while adding seven assists. It was one of his 23 games in double figures as a junior. He also produced 12 games with five or more assists in his final season at Cornell. In each of his last three games, Okereke scored at least 20 points with eight or more rebounds.
A native of Clovis, California, Okereke was a standout at Clovis North High School where he earned third-team all-state honors as a senior. He averaged 22.3 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game as a senior. He went on to spend a prep year at Golden State Prep prior to enrolling at Cornell.
