![\"Double](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/5C2CM7UJE5EVJNJZPY4XL7X7OA.jpg\")
Ex-St. Peter’s basketball star O.D. Anosike, who won the Jaques Award as Staten Island’s top high school player and scored 1,230 career points, proudly displays his jersey number during a retirement ceremony on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026.(Kara Buzga for the Advance\/SILive.com)<\/p>\n
The 6-foot-8 Anosike, who went on to an exceptional collegiate career at Siena University and is still playing professionally overseas, became only the sixth St. Peter\u2019s basketball player to have his number retired.<\/p>\n
The Charlotte, N.C., resident joins Bill Murtha (No. 17, class of 1962), John Engles (No. 41, class of 1972), Mike Fiore (No. 40, class of 1972), Greg Pedro (No. 21, class of 1983) and Andrew Wisniewski (No. 4, class of 1999) on the New Brighton school\u2019s gymnasium wall.<\/p>\n
Needless to say, Anosike was thankful for being acknowledged.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an honor \u2014 a tremendous honor,\u2019’ said the 35-year-old, who played for long-time head coach Charlie Driscoll during his playing days. \u201cWhen I think about all of the great players who came through this storied high school \u2014 many of which I grew up watching or got to know through the years \u2014 it really means a lot.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t be here without the support and help of so many people and I hope I\u2019ve made them proud.\u2019’<\/p>\n
St. Peter\u2019s varsity head coach Ryan Woods, who teamed with Anosike to help lead the Eagles to two SIHSL Tournament titles in 2007-08, said retiring his former teammate\u2019s number is a well-deserved honor.<\/p>\n
\u201cO.D. was such a special player here and such a tremendous guy and it was only fitting that he was the next number to go up in the rafters,\u2019’ said Woods, who won the Jaques Award as Staten Island\u2019s top high school basketball player one year before Anosike was bestowed the same honor. \u201dHis career here, his career at Siena and his professional career all speak for themselves. Not only was he an excellent player at all levels, but he\u2019s a dynamite guy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were so happy to have him back tonight,\u2019’ continued Woods, who said Anosike was his \u2018foxhole guy\u2019 who he went through thick and thin together during their playing days. \u201dIt was a lot with Senior Night, a lot of celebrating, but he deserved every minute of this recognition.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
During his high school days, the power forward was a fierce interior presence and rebounder who helped lead the Eagles to three consecutive SIHSL Tournament championships and garnered tourney MVP honors twice. During his senior year, he averaged 17.8 ppg. overall, but a whopping 24.6 points and 17.3 rebounds per game in three SIHSL tourney games.<\/p>\n
In addition to winning the Jaques, the two-time Advance All Star scored 1,230 career points.<\/p>\n
He received a full athletic scholarship to D1 Siena and proceeded to lead the nation in rebounding two times. In addition, he went on to score over 1,000 points and grab over 1,000 rebounds during his playing days with the Saints. He was also named a Lou Henson Mid-Major All American.<\/p>\n
Anosike has enjoyed a successful professional career overseas as well. He played NBA Summer League ball with both the Denver Nuggets and Boston Celtics. In playing pro hoops overseas, he is a two-time Italian Serie A rebounding champion and made stops in France (Cholet and Strasbourg), Spain (Real Betis), Greece (Lavrio) and other countries including South Korea, Libya, Mexico, Iran.<\/p>\n
He currently plays for ILAB in Istanbul, Turkey.<\/p>\n
Anosike credited his upbringing at St. Peter\u2019s for getting him to where he is today.<\/p>\n
\u201cSt. Peter\u2019s played a big role in my life in so many ways,\u2019’ he said. \u201dAthletically, of course, but also academically, emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually. There\u2019s so many ways that I developed and St. Peter\u2019s encouraged me to be more than just an athlete.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe leadership here, from (school president John Fodera) to the basketball program has been so supportive in so many ways and I wouldn\u2019t be here without them.\u2019’<\/p>\n
Anosike said receiving the honor of having his number retired while Woods is running SP\u2019s program made it that more special.<\/p>\n
\u201cRyan has always been a leader. Anytime he was around, it was a sense of calmness. Nobody was ever worried,\u2019’ Anosike said matter-of-factly. \u201dWith him running the program now, I feel the same way. I know the program is in good hands.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe love St. Peter\u2019s and want the best and to have him stewarding the program in such a great way and to be honored tonight and for him to get a win \u2014 it was a perfect night.\u2019’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 O.D. Anosike stood at midcourt, by himself, and you could almost see him taking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103329,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-103328","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}