
Redshirt junior forward Roland Nyama, the third-leading scorer on the Stony Brook men’s basketball team in the 2016-17 season, announced via Instagram on Tuesday that he will not return for his senior athletic season.
Nyama will graduate this spring and has elected not to play for a fourth season with the Seawolves. In some cases, an athlete will stay for a post-graduate year to play out his or her eligibility, but Nyama may instead look to play professionally.
The following text accompanied his announcement of the news:
“Albeit with mixed feelings, I have decided to not return to Stony Brook upon graduation in may and pursue a professional Basketball career. I wanna thank everybody that has helped me along the way and especially coach [Steve] Pikiell for giving me the chance to play collegiate basketball, and coach [Jeff] Boals who believed in me this year. Stony Brook will forever hold a special place in my heart and the friendships, memories and personal growth this place allowed me to have are irreplaceable and forever valued. Love you guys. 24.”
Nyama, a Frankfurt, Germany native, averaged 12.4 points and 4.4 rebounds per game in America East play this season. Called a “slasher” by head coach Jeff Boals, Nyama had several highlight slam dunks in his Stony Brook career. He was also strong on the defensive end, and was named to the 2017 All-America East Defensive Team.
“He’s fun to be around,” Boals said of Nyama in a February interview. “Very, very smart. He can hold conversations about multiple things, not just basketball. He’s multilingual and every once in a while he’ll say stuff in a language just so we don’t understand him. Guys like him, they brighten the room up. Those are the guys you want to be around.”