Alvin Icyogere has developed into one of the most prolific shooters in the OUA, and this past year, he made program history. The Ottawa native is entering his final year of eligibility with the Nipissing Lakers, and will be bringing back something no one else at Nipissing has ever had: CEBL experience.
After seeing steady improvement each year, Icyogere has evolved from a strong OCAA rookie to an OUA star in North Bay. After playing high school basketball for Collège Catholique Franco-Ouest in Ottawa, he would head to Kingston to spend his rookie season playing for the St. Lawrence Surge in 2019.
There, he would start in 16 of 18 games and ranked 15th in three-point field goals for the conference. Icyogere would then make the jump to U SPORTS and transfer to the Nipissing Lakers in 2021.
A slow rookie year and a sophomore season lost to injury would see his time in North Bay get off to a rocky start. But after returning to action in 2023-24, he has been lights out.
He had the highest scoring game of his U SPORTS career at Laurentian on Dec. 2, 2023, when he put up 39 points on 10 made three-point field goals. The rangy wing finished that season averaging 12.2 points per game and shot 35.4 per cent from the floor.
Icyogere would follow that up with another stellar season last year, where he averaged a personal best 15.4 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game.
His consistency impressed the right people. In April, Icyogere became the first player from Nipissing to be drafted into the Canadian Elite Basketball League, going 17th overall in the 2nd round to the Ottawa Blackjacks.
OB.SESSED got the opportunity to speak with Icyogere about players he’s admired, his CEBL experience, and what the Lakers need to do to make a playoff push. Here’s what he had to say.
Looking back, are there any basketball players you looked up to and tried to model your game after?
Alvin: When I first started. I watched a lot of Kyrie Irving. I think it's just the way he reacted, it always looked like he had a move for whatever was going on in the basketball court. There have been others, I feel like Paul George, he’s more similar to my size. I like Steph [Curry] a lot. I try to pick up at least one or two things from their games.
How do you incorporate their playstyles into your own game?
Alvin: Kyrie obviously, the dribbling, I like the fluidity of it. I feel like he can basically finish from anywhere on the court. With Steph, It was always the shooting. I watched a documentary and they showed him starting from the rim and not taking shots outside.
I tried to learn to shoot like that. I think I have a quicker form and a lot of that was just from watching him. With Paul George, he's a taller guy, but he can get low. I wasn’t really someone who could dribble early in my career. But just looking at him and figuring out how it looks when you're that size and can dribble out so he can get to a step back. He plays both ends (of the court) too.
How do you think your CEBL experience is going to impact your game with the Lakers this year?
Alvin: I feel like it's gonna impact it in a lot of ways. Every day I've gone there, and you can learn something every day from a different culture. All these players have come from different countries and different leagues, so it's been a lot of help.
Working with their trainers, I've gone and put on some muscle, I've gotten a lot bigger. So it'll help a lot, obviously. Coming in and having that type of experience and knowing what it’s like to be on a playoff team.
We finished second and although it didn’t end the way we wanted to, it helped a lot with understanding what a good team looks like, in the locker room and on the court and what’s expected [to make that happen].
Just being able to bring back everything I kind of soaked up would be good. Also my coach, Thomas Cory, was with the CEBL['s Brampton Honey Badgers as lead assistant] too so he's coming back with more experience as well.
Are there any lessons from former coaches that have stuck with you to this day?
Alvin: Yeah, I had one coach in high school named Henry, he used to tell me that how you do one thing is how you do everything. It comes from off the court, even how you clean your room or when you decide to do the dishes.
Even if it's like a little drill in practice where you think it doesn't matter, it all kind of builds up to what you're trying to do and what you look like in games. So that's something that's always stuck on my mind, whether it’s a little drill and if you know you cheated a little bit or you didn't put in the most effort you could've. How you do one thing affects everything.
What are your personal and team goals for the upcoming season with Nipissing?
Alvin: I'll start with the team because honestly, that's the biggest thing. I want to make the playoffs. I want to get a deep run. Obviously a championship is the goal. We haven't really had too much success, we made the playoff once but that’s the biggest thing (making the playoffs).
Personally, I've kind of noticed that your personal accolades don't really matter, you're not really gonna get recognized anyway if your team is not doing good. I'm kind of more focused on just being better than I was last year.
I feel like all these years I've improved, so I just want to see more improvement. Be better all around. Be more consistent throughout the year cause I felt my games were very scattered last season. I’d have a really good game, but the lows were also low, so just to be more consistent overall.
What do you feel the Lakers need to do to have a successful season this year and make a push for the playoffs?
Alvin: Our coaches told us this all the time last year, we kind of struggled with playing a full four quarters of good basketball. We'd have three quarters where we’d be in the game, but it only takes one quarter to lose a game and two-to-three minutes where you're not paying attention.
I think consistently playing four quarters of good basketball, that’s something that we're gonna have to learn to do. I know we can do it and we have a lot of experience. We also have young guys that can come in and contribute, but that's the biggest thing just being good and being consistent for four full quarters.
In his CEBL debut for the Ottawa Blackjacks, Alvin scored 9 points in 8 minutes of play, on 3 for 4 shooting from deep, proof that Nipissing can produce professional level talent that can be effective at the next level. With this experience under his belt, Icyogere returns to North Bay as a leader and will stand as a testament that the program can develop elite players.
Under the leadership of head coach Thomas Cory, Nipissing will look to improve on their 6-16 record from last season and make a push for the playoffs in a highly competitive OUA east division. The Lakers will kick off their season on Oct. 24 against the Windsor Lancers, an early opportunity to test themselves against a proven playoff team.