Osayi to the Bobcats

Dylan Thayer | Wednesday, May 21st, 2025

Yesterday, it was announced that Putnam Science and Team New England forward Sam Osayi has committed to Head Coach Tom Pecora and the Quinnipiac Bobcats.

Fresh off a national championship, Osayi was one of the top performers next to Collins Onyejiaka for the Team New England MADE squad that has made some noise throughout the spring.

Prior to taking home the hardware in March at the National Prep Championship, Putnam Science realized how lethal a double big lineup with Osayi and Oklahoma State Ben Ahmed could be.

Throughout the season, Osayi and Ahmed were two of the most consistent performers in the lineup, and collected a ton of minutes amongst the hockey-line esque style of play Coach Espinosa loves. Sprinkle in other bigs like Sacred Heart’s Abdou Yadd and 2026 Adama Tambedou, and the Mustangs really could go after opposing frontcourts. 

The 6’9” forward isn’t known as the guy who’s going to go out there and create a ton of shots for himself, or rack up buckets left and right, but he gets down and dirty for everything else. He rebounds the ball at-will, using his size and length to secure boards in bunches. This was represented pretty well by his 7.3 rebound per game average across four games in the National Prep Championship Tournament. Add to that the fact that he only played about 17 minutes per game in those four games as well.

Outside of rebounding, Osayi is a useful piece as a screener as he sets strong screens for his guards to get a mismatch. He’s got the timing, length and bounce to get up and meet shots on their way up towards the basket. During the spring he showed a little bit of floor spacing potential too, a trait that the Bobcats can develop if they wish to add another threat to the court.

As mentioned earlier, in his first season at Putnam Science, Osayi helped the Mustangs bring home their fifth National Championship. Prior to joining the Mustangs, Osayi made stops at the Tilton School and Potter’s House in Florida. 

The newly-committed Bobcat originally hails from Nigeria.

Osayi joins fellow Connecticut-based senior Jayden Reid with the Bobcats who are looking to build off the momentum of a 64-35 record over the past three seasons in the MAAC.