MOSCOW, Idaho - UI head coach George Pfeifer announced today the signing of O.J. Avworo to a National Letter of Intent to play basketball for the Vandals.  Avworo is coach Pfeifer's first high school recruit.

Avworo is a 6-0, 180-pound point guard from Houston, Tex. where he is currently a senior at Alief Elsik High School.  Avworo averaged 10.8 points, 11.3 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 3.6 steals per game as a senior and ended his career at AEHS as the all-time assist leader with 924 career assists.  His 11.3 assists per game as a senior led the Houston area.  He recorded 409 assists his senior year which ranks second all-time at AEHS for a single season. 

"We like his speed, his quickness and his vision," Pfeifer said. "He is a true point guard.  What separates O.J. is his basketball IQ, he knows ahead of time how each basketball situation is going to play out.  Even more impressive is the fact that during the past several months he has matured physically and has increased his strength."

Avworo was a three-time all-District 19-5A selection as well as an all-Region 5 selection and an honorable mention all-State selection his senior season.  Texashoops.com ranked Avworo as one of the top 24 players in the state of Texas his senior season.

"Interscholastically he has played at the highest level," Pfeifer said.

Avworo is also an excellent student at AEHS where he made honor roll all four years and was a member of the debate team.  Avworo will be a pre-law and pre-med student at Idaho and will likely major in biology and political science.

"O.J. is a tremendous student," Pfeifer said. "I think one of the reasons why we were the right fit for him is because he is interested in pre-med and law and when he researched the University he found out the excellent programs that we have to offer in those areas."

Alief Elsik has a history of producing quality basketball players and counts Rashad Lewis of the Seattle Sonics as an alumnus. 

Avworo received interest from Stanford, Rice, Colorado State, SMU and Charlotte before deciding on Idaho.

"I think that he evaluated the things that would be of value to him, and the University, basketball program and community had what he was looking for," Pfeifer said.