Journey To Jadwin - Richmond Aririguzoh
10/22/2020
“The hardest working player in college basketball.”
That's how Head Coach Mitch Henderson regularly described Richmond Aririguzoh, a 6’9 ecology and evolutionary biology major who speaks four languages, was an All-Ivy League honoree twice and has his name etched in the Princeton men's basketball record book.
Growing up in Pontelongo, Italy, Aririguzoh dabbled in the sport of basketball but never took it too seriously. After sixth grade, Aririguzoh and his family moved to the United States and settled in Trenton, New Jersey, where his grandmother lived. For his last two years of middle school, Aririguzoh attended Incarnation of Saint James, a catholic school where he would once again find himself with a basketball in his hands.
“I picked up basketball again at Incarnation because at that point I was six foot and they were like ‘come play for us,’” said Aririguzoh. “It wasn’t super serious, we’d practice twice a week but it was definitely an improvement over anything I had been involved in in Italy. The culture of basketball is so much more expansive here.”
It was around this time that Aririguzoh first began playing AAU basketball, which proved to be an eye-opening experience for him and his family.
“Around eighth grade was when I joined my first AAU team, the Jersey Mavericks,” said Aririguzoh. “That was also a really interesting experience for my parents, in Italy there wasn’t really school teams and every team was travel/club. We didn’t really have school sports in my small town, it was all club stuff, where as here school sports is such a huge part of the school experience.”
Throughout his youth, basketball was a fun, recreational activity for Aririguzoh but not something he predicted would become a major part of his future.
This changed in high school.
I went to Trenton Catholic and unbeknown to me was that it was a basketball-crazy school. It’s one of the premier basketball programs in New Jersey.”Richmond Aririguzoh
To say his initiation to basketball at the high school level was a step up would be an understatement.
“The summer before I got there, I got contacted by one of the coaches, I think it was the freshmen or JV coach,” said Aririguzoh. “He welcomed me; I filled out a questionnaire about my extra-curriculars so that’s how they knew I played basketball. He asked if I’d like to come in for some summer workouts, so I went in and it’s crazy. At that point I was maybe 6’3, 6’4, I was so uncoordinated and had never played basketball at that level. If middle school was a step up from Italy, high school took it up times ten. I came in and was by far the least skilled, the least athletic and the least everything in that gym for the entirety of that summer.”
His freshman year at Trenton Catholic, Aririguzoh would appear in two varsity games and score just four points on a pair of free throws. Despite this, what happened off the court would be integral to the success of his eventual development into to an All-Ivy League player.
“That summer I started working with the track coach (Gary Zottoli), who doubled as the strength and conditioning coach,” explained Aririguzoh. “That was my first real introduction to consistent, daily hard grinding.”
Along with developing the foundation of what would become a legendary work ethic, Aririguzoh would also meet one of the most influential figures in his life.
I met our JV coach, the Reverend Anthony Hunter. He passed away right after I committed to Princeton, but during those four years he was one of the most influential people in my growth. He introduced me to my eventual AAU team who I would play for, WeR1, one of the top programs in the country. It’s where I met premier talent and was exposed to so much high-level basketball."Richmond Aririguzoh
“He became a mentor, guided my workouts and instilled so much confidence in me,” said Aririguzoh. "You could be shooting higher instead of settling for whatever you think you should be, you can be so much better than what you think you can be. He pushed me always, asked me to go workout and work on different things. It began my freshman year and continued to my senior year, but unfortunately my senior year he passed away. That was probably the hardest event of my life.”
As Aririguzoh continued to apply Hunter’s lessons, Princeton started to become a realistic option.
I made it clear during my freshman and sophomore year I wanted to go to a high academic school.Richmond Aririguzoh
“That dropped off a lot of mid-majors who were eyeing me to see what I’d become,” proclaimed Aririguzoh. "My first unofficial visit was to Princeton my sophomore year. I came with my mom. I remember distinctly getting out of the car and one of the first people I saw was Amir Bell, who was a senior at East Brunswick High School. He was ready to work out and was going to be an incoming freshman.”
After his brother, Franklin, committed to Princeton as a member of the men’s track & field team, the likelihood of both brothers becoming Tigers went up.
“He had a stellar year track-wise. He was one of the top guys in his event in New Jersey, but flew a bit under the radar,” explained Aririguzoh. “My mom was worried at this point, so she brought him up to Brett. On our walk around campus we saw the track coach, Brett threw the alley-oop to Franklin and he ended up at Princeton. That’s where the seed was planted.”
By the time he was a senior, Aririguzoh had developed into a leader on the team. His high school career would culminate in a meeting with a current Princeton teammate, Elijah Barnes.
“We were really young and went as far as we could in the state tournament, where we lost to Elijah’s team,” said Aririguzoh. “He was going to Mater Dai High School. Tight game throughout that went to overtime, Elijah was a hack and was always fouling me. We went to overtime because I had the game-tying free throws, but they put us out. They were definitely a better team, their guards were a little more cohesive and Elijah was great. He put me out of the state tournament and never lets me forget it.”
While the matchup never eventuated, Aririguzoh was also slated to face another one of his future teammates that; Jose Morales.
“Another matchup that almost happened my senior year was against the Hun School in Princeton, which is important because at that point Jose went to Hun,” explained Aririguzoh. “It got snowed out and it was the only game that was snowed out that wasn’t re-scheduled at all. I was annoyed it was that game and like to joke with Jose that we could have whooped them.”
Aririguzoh will be forever grateful for his experience at Trenton Catholic.
Before starting at Prinecton, he would join forces on the court with a pair of future teammates and New Jersey locals.
“That summer I played in pro-am league with Amir Bell and Myles Stephens, I had actually met Myles playing with my AAU team, the summer after my sophomore year,” said Aririguzoh. “Myles had just committed, he was working the clock at one tournament because he was injured and I remember asking him why he committed to Princeton.”
Once at Princeton, Aririguzoh’s rise followed a steady trajectory. While his minutes were limited on the loaded Tigers’ Ivy League title-winning team his freshman year, he got to experience the NCAA Tournament and learned valuable lessons from the upperclassmen. However, his real leap would occur following his sophomore year.
“After my sophomore year I had the infamous talk with Coach. He told me I wasn’t giving it my all, I wasn’t fully invested and I need to get fully invested. I did. I doubled down and looked at what type of person I was on the court, what type of person I was with my teammates. I decided to be better at all facets of my life on and off the court. It worked; the whole summer I worked out with JD (James DeVincenzi) and I was also in the gym by myself just working out, perfecting the basics.Richmond Aririguzoh
During his last two years at Princeton, he would become a two-time All-Ivy League honoree and was named to the Ivy League All-Tournament Team in 2018-19. Aririguzoh led the nation in true shooting percentage (.721 percent). He ranks second all-time in Princeton history in career field goal percentage (.636 percent) and second all-time in Princeton history in single season shooting percentage (.693, 2018-19).
Aririguzoh credits much of his success two a pair of individuals; strength and conditioning coach James DiVincenzi and assistant coach Jonathan Jones.
“JD and I started a great four-year partnership, it went beyond regular lifting sessions to experimenting new stuff on me, it was great,” said Aririguzoh. “It formed a great relationship. Those summer workouts where I’m giving him feedback on what works and what doesn’t, he’s making sure I’m being the best version of myself.”
Jones was also crucial to Aririguzoh’s development on and off the court throughout his last two seasons at Princeton.
“When you work out almost every day with somebody after practices and before practices, sometimes on off days, you break down film with them and they’re so invested in making sure you’re the best version of yourself,” said Aririguzoh. "It’s bound to leave a mark on you. He doesn’t like to think he did anything special, but he helped me put it all together.”
With a professional basketball contract on the horizon, Aririguzoh’s future both on and off the court could not be brighter. He pushed himself academically at Princeton, even spending the summer between his junior and senior year in Madagascar with the conservation research organization, Operation Wallacea, studying an endangered species of lemur.
Before coming to Princeton, I’d never been challenged so thoroughly in all facets of my life. There were times where I may have settled for just staying above water, there were times where I would have settled with failure but it just wouldn’t let me. That’s completely due to Princeton, it would not allow me to fail. It made me the best version of myself.Richmond Aririguzoh
“A lot of people say their college years transformed them,” said Aririguzoh. "I really grew throughout the whole process. The biggest challenges had the best rewards, that’s what I’m most thankful for.”
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