Q&A: Injured OSU forward Jéan-Paul Olukemi

It's been a rough year for the Oklahoma State basketball team.

Departures, suspensions and minor injuries have plagued the entire roster, but nobody has had it quite as tough as Jéan-Paul Olukemi.

Averaging 9.2 points and 8.4 rebounds through 12 games, Olukemi was having a solid junior season. But then came the Virginia Tech game.

Early in the second half, already with eight points and four rebounds, Olukemi drove, collected and planted for a shot. His right knee gave out.

Although he unsuccessfully tried to return later in the game, Olukemi's right ACL was torn and his season was over. Two weeks removed from surgery, and in high spirits, Olukemi sat down to answer a few questions: 

You had surgery on your knee a couple weeks ago. How did it go?

It went really good. I slept the whole time. Even before they put the nerve block in, I was out. They put a little anesthesia in and I slept the whole time. After surgery, it was painful. They had the tubes in my leg for 48 hours and that was painful. It felt like somebody had a needle and was scraping the inside of my kneecap. But the surgery overall, they said it went good. I didn't do anything to my MCL or anything like that, so that was good news. Just looking for a speedy recovery.

I heard that was the first time you had surgery. Were you nervous before?

I was real scared before, but I fell asleep, so it helped. I got knocked out so early in the day. I can't believe I slept that long. I met with Coach Ford and all the coaches before and they told me not to worry about it.

What did they say was the timetable on your return? Could you be ready for training camp next year?

Yeah, at the pace I'm going right now. It's been two weeks and I can almost ride a bike right now. They got me starting to do two-a-days right now, coming in in the morning and afternoon. They are getting me back right and healthy again and I hope to be jogging in the next month or so.

You have never had a serious injury before this. How tough has this process been?

It was a little tough on me, but I tried not to get down. I remember the first couple days, I didn't watch no basketball. When I was hurt, I didn't want to see nobody run around the court or shoot and dunk or none of that. But then once I got past that, it was just like this is what God wanted, and it's a blessing so I just took it as that. Just try to stay positive.

Take me back to that Virginia Tech game. Originally, you went down with the injury, quickly went to the locker, but then returned.

Yeah, I went to the training room and he did a couple tests on me, asked me to jump, run and make a few cuts. It felt really good and he asked, ‘Are you sure you can go out?' I was like, ‘Yeah, I feel like it feels good and if I go out there we are going to beat these guys.' So, I wanted to go back out there for my team. I went out there did a little jogging and felt good. Then I got out there to throw the ball and that was pretty much it.

Yeah, that was a strange play. What happened?

Man, I went to throw it in and jumped a little. It felt like somebody took a pistol and and pow right in my knee. I turned around and looked, because it was so much pain, that I thought somebody had actually kicked me really hard. I turned around and looked and there was nobody there.

Could you tell in that moment that your season was over?

Yeah, there was so much pain, I knew I was done for. I've never had anything serious like that but I knew that type of pain, it had to be bad.

How have the last few weeks been watching the team?

It's a struggle sometimes because you want to go out there and do something. But I see them improving. They are making great strides and Markel (Brown) is just taking his game to another level. It's good to watch people mature and take their game up. It's a little tough to watch, especially if we are getting blown out.

How about the Missouri game at home? I heard Markel went back in the training room and watched it with you once he got ejected.

Yeah, he came in there and we were watching the game on TV.  At that time, I couldn't really move, didn't have mobility, so I didn't want to be out there and somebody kick my leg. When the court's getting stormed, I got to be handicapped for another 6 to 8 months again. So I stayed back there and almost jumped and leaped out the table. I remember I had no ace bandage on, so I had to put it on quick and go celebrate with them in the locker room. It was fun and I was so ecstatic.

What did you think of Markel's dunks?

I remember telling him, ‘Ewwww, why you do that to them?' And he asked why did he get a technical. Then they were replaying it, because they were talking about it the whole game. So I told him when you dunk on somebody just look into the crowd. He was like, ‘I know man, I hope we don't lose the game. They going to blame it on me.'