Even from the dimly lit upper bowl of John Paul Jones Arena, Sunmi Alade didn’t have to squint to spot her favorite University of Virginia men’s basketball player.
Down there, among a sea of towering athletes, one stood – literally – above the rest.
Cavalier fans know him as Ugo Onyenso, UVA’s dynamic 7-foot senior center, but Alade was calling him something else.
“Tall man! Tall man!” the 5-foot-3 Alade shouted during the Wahoos’ win over the University of Miami on Feb. 21. “That’s my customer!”
It was a truthful boast. Since an impromptu meeting in August, Alade, a 31-year-old Darden School of Business student, has served her fellow countryperson a rotation of homemade dishes from their homeland of Nigeria.
Snail. Stewed goat meat. Jollof rice.
That’s what’s fueling one of the best shot-blocking seasons a Cavalier has had in recent memory.
“Eating good food,” said Onyenso, who was named to the Atlantic Coast Conference All-Defensive Team on Monday, “it gives you a different kind of energy. You’re energized. Your brain is functioning at a high level. You’re ready to go.
“And that’s all thanks to her.”
A whiff of home
Onyenso admits he can’t make Nigerian food, but “I can eat it.” And he can find it – no matter where his basketball career has taken him.
While at the University of Kentucky from 2022 to 2024, he’d lean on visits from his Wisconsin-based uncle, a “great cook” and his only relative living in the U.S., to fill his refrigerator. And while at Kansas State University last year, he’d travel two hours to Kansas City for an occasional taste of home.
But at UVA, his third and final collegiate stop, all Onyenso had to do was walk outside his apartment near North Grounds on a late summer day and take a whiff.
“This smells familiar,” he thought to himself. “I know this smell from a mile away.”
So, he followed his nose until he came upon the clubhouse at his apartment complex, where the Darden School’s African Business Organization was hosting an event accompanied by a fitting spread of jollof rice, a vibrant dish blending peppers, tomatoes and onions with a variety of spices. Onyenso asked to meet the chef.
“And then I saw him,” Alade said. “The entire time, I was like, ‘How tall are you?’”
Onyenso had questions, too, like, “Is it OK if I pay you to cook for me?”
Alade was flattered.
“I’ve had people say that before,” she said, “like, ‘Oh, you can cook Nigerian food? I’ll reach out to you.’ And they never follow up.
“But Ugo, the next day, sends me a text, ‘What’s up ma’am?’”
Alade had a customer.
A satisfied customer
More than 300 miles separate the hometowns of Alade (Osogbo) and Onyenso (Owerri) in southern Nigeria. While basketball opportunities drew Onyenso to the United States, Alade arrived nine years ago to pursue a master’s degree in public health from Georgia Southern University.
Last summer, she interned with Xbox in Seattle, and in a few months, she’ll have completed her MBA from the Darden School.
