Elijah Olaniyi (born January 11, 1999) is a American former
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
player. Olaniyi played for the
Stony Brook Seawolves
The Stony Brook Seawolves are the athletic teams of Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, New York, United States. The school competes at the Division I level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and joined the all-sports Colonial At ...
Atlantic Coast Conference
The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...
.
He began his career at Stony Brook, winning America East Rookie of the Year in 2018 and being named first-team All-Conference in 2020 before transferring to Miami. He transferred back to Stony Brook for his fifth and final year, but left the team before the end of the season. Olaniyi medically retired in 2023 after being diagnosed with
brain cancer
A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and secondar ...
.
Early life and high school career
Olaniyi was born in
Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
. He attended a charter school, which did not have a basketball team, as a high school freshman before transferring to East Side in
Newark, New Jersey
Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area. Olaniyi did not begin playing basketball until eighth grade when a gym teacher pointed him towards the direction of AAU basketball. He played two years in AAU with the NJ Roadrunners. At East Side, he played for head coach Anthony Tavares. With Olaniyi, the East Side Red Raiders won county championships in 2014 and 2017, as well as a state title in 2015. In 87 high school games, Olaniyi recorded 928 points and 588 rebounds. In his junior season, he was named to the All-Group 4 First Team. He was named first-team All-State and All-Conference as a senior.
Olaniyi was listed as a two-star recruit by
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
as a
small forward
The small forward (SF), also known as the three or swingman, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. Small forwards are typically shorter, quicker, and leaner than power forwards and centers but taller, larger, and stronger t ...
, with a 67 overall grade. ESPN ranked Olaniyi as the 11th-best recruit in the state of
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
and the 75th-best small forward.
College career
Olaniyi made his college debut on November 10, 2017, against
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
, where he played 20 minutes and scored three points. On November 19, Olaniyi came off the bench and led Stony Brook with 16 points against No. 2
Michigan State
Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...
. The game started a series of five double-digit games in a row off the bench for Olaniyi. In his first career start, he had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds against Hartford. He won the 2018 America East Rookie of the Year award after leading all freshmen with 7.8 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. He was named America East Rookie of the Week four times and was also named to the America East All-Rookie Team.
In his sophomore season, Olaniyi averaged 16.8 points in Stony Brook's first four games before suffering a concussion in the team's home opener against
Molloy
Molloy or O'Molloy is an Irish surname, anglicised from Ó Maolmhuaidh, maolmhuadh meaning 'Proud Chieftain'. (See also Malloy.) They were part of the southern Uí Néill, the southern branch of the large tribal grouping claiming descent from Ni ...
. He missed two games and came off the bench against Quinnipiac in his return. On February 2, 2019, Olaniyi scored a new career-high 28 points against Hartford. In Stony Brook's America East quarterfinal loss to
Binghamton
Binghamton () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the conflue ...
, Olaniyi led all players with 27 points. He finished his sophomore season averaging 12.3 points per game and 5.9 rebounds per game with a 42.5 percent field goal rate. He was named to the Third-Team All-America East.
Olaniyi broke out in his junior season. On December 7, 2019, he had a career game, scoring 30 points against
Brown
Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model used ...
on 11-for-15 shooting. He scored his 1,000th career point in a 70–62 victory over Albany on January 18, 2020, his fourth-straight 20-point, 10-rebound double-double. On February 5, he scored a career-high 33 points against UMass Lowell. On February 8, Olaniyi suffered a high ankle sprain versus
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
and missed five games, prior to the injury, he was averaging 19.7 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. He returned off the bench on March 3 against
UMBC
The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) is a public research university in Baltimore County, Maryland. It has a fall 2022 enrollment of 13,991 students, 61 undergraduate majors, over 92 graduate programs (38 master, 25 doctoral, ...
and re-entered the starting lineup in the 2020 America East tournament, scoring 11 points against Albany in the quarterfinals and 19 points against Hartford in the semifinals. Olaniyi was named to the First-Team All-America East, ending his junior season averaging 18.0 points and 6.5 rebounds per game while shooting 43.5 percent from the floor and 36.1 percent from three-point range.
On March 28, 2020, Olaniyi officially declared for the
2020 NBA draft
The 2020 NBA draft was held on November 18, 2020. The draft was originally scheduled to be held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on June 25, but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it was instead conducted at ESPN's facilities in Bristol, Connecti ...
. On May 17, he announced that he would transfer to
Miami (Florida)
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at the ...
for his senior season. He averaged 10.5 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. After the season, he entered the transfer portal. On April 2, 2021, Olaniyi announced that he would be transferring back to Stony Brook for his fifth season of eligibility.
On November 22, 2021, Olaniyi suffered a leg injury against
Sacred Heart
The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus ( la, Cor Jesu Sacratissimum) is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This devo ...
and missed 10 games. He returned on January 8, 2022, against
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...
. Olaniyi took a personal leave of absence from the team on January 19, 2022, and rejoined the team on January 26. On February 10, Olaniyi announced that he had permanently left the team and withdrawn from the university, citing his injury and Stony Brook's inability to participate in the postseason as a result of the America East Conference's punishment for Stony Brook joining the
Colonial Athletic Association
The Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I whose full members are located in East Coast states from Massachusetts to South Carolina. Most of its members are public universi ...
in July. He played seven games, averaging 8.9 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.
Olaniyi ended his college career with 1,417 points – 1,197 at Stony Brook (eighth-most in program history) and 220 at Miami.
Professional career
On September 24, 2022, Olaniyi made his post-collegiate debut with the semi-pro team
Sparta
Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referre ...
of the Luxembourgish Basketball League, recording 21 points, five rebounds and six assists in a 98–69 victory over Soleuvre. On December 7, 2023, Olaniyi announced on his Instagram page that he was retiring from professional basketball due to unexpected health issues. In an interview with ''The Statesman'', Olaniyi revealed that he was diagnosed with brain cancer originating in 2021, and underwent three surgeries in December 2023 to remove 95% of the tumor.
2020–21
The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...
, style="text-align:left;",
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
Olaniyi was born to Festus and Ruth Olaniyi and has five siblings. Olaniyi was the first member of his family to be a natural born citizen of the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
after his parents immigrated from
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
. Olaniyi cites
Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bean Bryant ( ; August 23, 1978 – January 26, 2020) was an American professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he spent his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Widely r ...
and Jimmy Butler as personal influences on his basketball career.