Rayan Fadika, Jude Oluokun are game-changers for state-ranked Katy Jordan

Versatile senior forwards provide explosiveness to Warriors' offense, backbone to defense
Katy Jordan seniors Rayan Fadika, left, and Jude Oluokun give the state-ranked Warriors versatility, physicality and toughness.
Katy Jordan seniors Rayan Fadika, left, and Jude Oluokun give the state-ranked Warriors versatility, physicality and toughness. / Photo by Dennis Silva II

As much as Katy Jordan’s dominance this season can be attributed to its terrific perimeter duo of seniors Jaden Holt and Elijah Black, how far the Warriors go likely resides in seniors Rayan Fadika and Jude Oluokun.

Jordan, ranked No. 10 in the SBLive/SI Texas high school boys basketball Top 25, yearns for a state championship. It believes it has the roster to do so. But if the Warriors are to get to San Antonio, their versatile, forceful forwards will have a lot of say.

“Everyone says guards win in high school, and they do. But size does, too,” said coach Charlie Jones, whose Warriors are 23-2 overall, 8-0 in District 19-6A. “When you have guys like Jaden and Elijah, who are the skill guys, you need guys who will go and do the dirty work.

“Those guys (Fadika and Oluokun) do their job, and it makes it a fun team.”

The 6-foot-4, 200-pound Fadika is a physical wing, second on the Warriors in scoring (12 points per game) and first in rebounding (7.3). He is, arguably, the team’s most consistent 3-point shooter and provides another playmaking ballhandler should opposing teams swarm Holt and Black.

“I go into every game just letting it come to me,” Fadika said. “I don’t try and force anything. I trust my teammates. I get my looks. And I really just bring that defensive intensity every game. I know that’s what gets my motor going.”

As a freshman on the junior varsity, Fadika struggled finding his place. He was one of the biggest players on the team but had impressive perimeter skills. He just didn’t know how to take advantage of them as he was mostly used around the rim.

It wasn’t Fadika who acclimated. It was his coaches.

“We sat back and realized we needed to just let Rayan be Rayan,” Jones said. “We were trying to put him in a box, and sometimes as coaches, we have to let players be themselves. He found himself.”

Around the beginning of his junior season, Fadika emerged as a difference-maker as he was awarded more freedom with the ball. Now Jones calls him the Warriors’ “X-factor.”

“When Rayan plays well, we’re really, really good,” Jones said.

A defensive specialist most of his young career, the 6-foot-5, 215-pound Oluokun worked tirelessly on ballhandling and shooting over the summer to expand his game.

The Warriors’ leader in blocked shots, and second in rebounding, Oluokun said his confidence is higher this year. It shows.

Jones said Oluokun was once a wanderer on the court. Those days are long gone.

“He has matured so much in four years on varsity,” Jones said.

It helps having Fadika around. The two have been teammates since the fifth grade when they played AAU ball with Texas Inferno.

“It really started there,” Oluokun said. “And the more we play together, the more we grow. We grow as friends, we grow as brothers.”

What bonds the two on the court is getting stops.

“We love defense,” Oluokun said. “Even more than scoring.”

“I think anytime someone comes at us, we take it personal,” Fadika said. “Like, they’re looking at me like I’m the mismatch. I don’t like that. We don’t like that.”

The Warriors’ stout defensive prowess begins with Fadika and Oluokun, who make a concerted effort each game to put pressure around the rim and set the tone physically from the opening tip.

Because each is mobile with good reach and quickness, both can defend bigs and guards. That versatility is the crux of a Jordan defense allowing just 46.8 points per game.

“Having them on the court allows us to switch and do things differently,” Jones said. “We can throw bodies at a lot of people because of what they give us.”

Fadika and Oluokun combine for almost four “stocks” (steals plus blocks) per game. They clean up on the boards, combining to average eight defensive rebounds per game, limiting opponents to one-and-done on offense.

With Fadika and Oluokun roaming behind them, Holt and Black can gamble for steals and pressure high early and often in games, generating a good amount of offense off defense.

“Everybody plays defense like it’s game-point,” Fadika said. “Really. We defend hard and we take pride in it.”


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