Senior Spotlight: Q&A with Michael Oguine

Prior to the conclusion fo the 2018-19 men's basketball season, Glenn Junkert of GoGriz.com sat with each departing senior to reflect on his Montana career, his favorite memories and more. Junkert's entire senior feature about the players' continued focus on academics and athletics can be found online.

Michael Oguine / Los Angeles, Calif.

On his academic pursuit at Montana: My major is business marketing. I originally declared myself as a finance major, but after working with Dr. Jakki Mohr in the business school, her influence really opened my vision to the world of marketing. My eyes were opened to the world of data and analytics of marketing, and I became very interested and started working toward that field. I've been very fortunate to have several mentors here at the university. Dr. Ashby Kinch was my first mentor, and he first interested me in working toward a Rhodes Scholarship. It's interesting because the thing about a great university like Montana is you have all these great opportunities. Basketball is the first and major reason why I came here, but with that being said, I didn't have the time to focus on other extracurricular activities because there's so much commitment to basketball. Even though I didn't go forward with a Rhodes Scholarship, Dr. Kinch really opened my eyes to broadening my curriculum. I started taking classes, and one class I took was a philosophy class, Intro to Ethics, from Dr. Soazig Le Bihan, and she is a great professor. That was not a required class for me, but that class was a big help for me and influenced my further studies here.

On his favorite memories as a Griz Hoops player: One of my personal favorite games was against Pitt last year. It was really fun because it was our (current) team's first win against a true Power-5 conference team. It was really good for our program to go there and get a win. Even though we lost to Michigan in the NCAA tourney, I had a great time playing that game because I was able to leave everything out there on the court without having any regrets. Obviously I wish the ending was different, but we left everything out on the court at the end. When a team does that, it's obviously a good feeling.

On scoring 1,500 career points: Individually, to me it doesn't mean a whole lot aside from the fact that winning games is the main thing. At the end of the day, it's nice to score 1,500 points, but I want to hang championship banners. I think banners are a better accomplishment, because you can walk into a gym and look up to the rafters and see banners and know that you are a part of one; that's really a special feeling. It's a great feat to join the guys that have been there, but I think that hanging up banners here in Dahlberg Arena is the true sign of accomplishment for my team. Those banners will be there forever.

On shifting his role at times, in order to help team success: I always like to improve each year, to see a natural progression and see the numbers go up. But the thing about a great team is that you have to sacrifice for the good of the team. We have a great team this year. All the other teams knew we were returning so many guys, but because of individual numbers, every other team has been going in trying to figure out how to stop myself and Ahmaad (Rorie). Taking that into consideration, for me and Ahmaad to give up individual numbers, gives our team more balance, I know Ahmaad doesn't have a problem with it, and I don't, because as long as we're winning, we'll take it because it's a fair trade off.

On the importance of academics: Based upon coach Travis' recommendation, I joined the Montana Davidson Honors College. I joined and started taking honors classes. I definitely am proud of having been accepted into the college, having taken the introductory course, Ways of Knowing, which was one of my favorite classes as a student here. Just being accepted was a motivation for me to push harder. Even if I don't graduate with the full honors, it was a great program that motivated me, and I'm glad I joined it.

On his relationship with DeCuire: The summer going into my senior year in high school, you get a lot of coaches' calls and there's different levels of interest. People might call you just to touch base and say, 'We're interested,' but then you get calls where you realize, This coach really wants me at their school. That's definitely the category where coach Trav was. We had a great phone call, and I liked what he was saying and was really intrigued with his background and story. I felt like I was a bit under-recruited, but hearing coach Trav tell me, 'I want guys like you that are hungry and want to prove yourself,' made me decide that I was all for it. He actually offered me a scholarship on the phone, on the spot. When he called, I knew nothing about Montana or could put Missoula on a map, but I knew that this was a coach that I could see myself playing for. There are a lot of good guys here at this program, but I'm proud to be coach Trav's first recruit to Montana. A lot of people have referenced that I first said I wanted to play for – not Montana – but for coach Trav, but that's simply a testament to his vision, and for us, I think it's worked out pretty well.

On the coaching staff: I honestly could not imagine myself playing for anybody other than coach Travis. He's a really cool guy, but it's definitely not all laid back. He wants the most out of you, and he'll find any means necessary to get the best out of you. You might not always agree with it, or you might not see eye-to-eye with him, but you always know he has your back. Our entire staff is great. I think we have one of the youngest coaching staffs in the country, and maybe that's in direct correlation to how energized they are. They look like they're living out their dream jobs.

On his family and their influence: I have two older sisters, Stephanie and Michelle. My parents are Deborah and Samuel Oguine and they raised us in Porter Ranch, Calif. I was fortunate to have older sisters who always worked hard, especially in school. They were both great students who went on to university study, so they set a path for me. My entire family has been very supportive of me. My mom works in the Los Angeles Unified School District, and my dad is a pharmacist and entrepreneur who starts pharmaceutical businesses. So, my dad is an influence in my interest in business study. I also have aunts and uncles from our family. My family came over here from Nigeria in the 80s and 90s and were the first to do so. My grandparents live right down the street. Even though they were born and raised in Nigeria, I was fortunate to have them come over to America to have them in my life as well.

On his relationship with his teammates: It's a great team that gets along very well. We don't have too many strong personalities on this team, so everyone gets along well. It always makes for a better environment when a group of guys are friends, can be low key, can laugh at themselves, and everyone feels welcome and accepted, which makes our camaraderie very easy.

On his future goals: I definitely want to continue playing basketball after I graduate. I do feel pretty good that working hard here at the U has helped put me in a pretty good position, so that I will have some good opportunities down the road after I finish playing basketball.

Associate head coach Chris Cobb on Oguine: The nights where you've GOT TO show up, No. 0 is pretty good. You usually know that right from the tip, and Mike's been that way since his freshman year. One of the most important things about Mike is not who he is as a player, but who he is as a person. During our first year, when we started recruiting and started throwing names up on the board, Mike's name quickly went up as a guy we needed to call. Coach DeCuire got on the phone with Mike (and when he got off the phone) he immediately said, 'We've got to have that guy.' The big thing about Mike is, you have a conversation with him and he's the guy, the model of the player we are trying to bring in – not just as a basketball player, but as a student, as a person. You just can't say enough about Mike. Mike is one of our easiest guys to coach. The one thing about Mike is that he can struggle, he can have frustrations, just like all these guys. You can bring him into the office, text him and you can say, 'Hey, this is where you need to get better.' And Mike can sit there and say, 'You know what, you're right.' That's what allows Mike to have success.

Dr. Ashby Kinch – associate dean of the University of Montana graduate school – on Oguine: I did work with Mike and think the world of him. He's a talented, intelligent and curious person who will do great things in life. It was a pleasure getting to know him, and a delight to watch him play his craft as a baller these past four years. Mike was recommended to me as somebody who might be a good Rhodes candidate when I was the Rhodes advisor on campus; that's how we first met. Long after he decided not to pursue the Rhodes we remained in contact, through texts, office hours, meeting to watch World Cup soccer last summer when his beloved Nigerian team played Croatia. It brings back really great memories of some excellent conversations with a really great dude. Mike is a passionate Bundesliga fan, rooted (like a lot of soccer fandom) in an uncle who spent time in Germany. He comes by his Super Eagle fandom honestly, too. Both of his parents are from Nigeria, and his family has a distinguished history there, including a relative, Ike Oguine, who is a novelist. One of our early rounds of conversations was about this family tradition, into which he was digging with his mom and dad.

University of Montana Athletics

Related News

Players Mentioned

Michael Oguine

Related Videos