Javion Ogunyemi returning to Siena, voids transfer to BU

According to ESPN’s Jeff Goodman, Boston University men’s basketball’s incoming transfer forward Javion Ogunyemi will return to Siena College for his junior season. He has already received a release from BU.

“He’s going back,” said Ogunyemi’s high school coach Rich Hurley in the Saratogian. “He was only at BU for six weeks and had his family situation that happened — with the death of his cousin — and I think after that happened I think he realized he wanted to be back home.”

Ogunyemi’s decision comes after a family emergency, according to reports. His cousin was killed recently in his hometown of Troy, NY and Hurley indicated that Ogunyemi missed the rest of his family in the wake of the tragedy.

“He finished out school and tried to fight through it and he really wanted to stay,” Hurley said. “At the end of the six-week period [in Boston] he realized that he just needed to be home. Nothing wrong with BU, nothing wrong with the program. He left with great things to say about coach [Joe] Jones and he feels bad, but it was just the best thing to be back with his family and that’s where he wanted to be.”

According to Hurley, Ogunyemi made the call to head back to Siena last Thursday. He discussed his decision for an hour and a half with Siena men’s basketball coach Jimmy Patsos on Monday. His next step will be to re-enroll academically at Siena.

“In the meantime, it’s just about getting him enrolled and get back in the school as a student-athlete and then go from there,” Hurley said. “We’re excited for him to be back.”

As a sophomore in 2014-15, Ogunyemi averaged 9.3 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. He also registered 48 blocks on the campaign. His inside presence will be missed by the Terriers, who had just one player as tall as the 6-foot-8 Ogunyemi average more than 15 minutes per game last season, in senior forward Justin Alston.