The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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[ 2023-24 BASKETBALL PREVIEW ] NOVEMBER 2023 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 43 land. When he later moved on to Lon- don, his boys remained in Finland. "I stayed with my mom," Nkamhoua recalled. "My dad was still in contact, but he was living elsewhere. I stayed with my mom and my brother until I was 17." Nkamhoua has plenty of wonder- ful memories about growing up in the northern European outpost. Summers provided endless opportunity for out- door activities, given the continuous daylight. He spent those days at the family summer house, with cousins and other relatives. Activity never proved a problem. Sleeping — well, that required a bit of creativity. "Luckily, my mom got me some blackout curtains," he recalled. "So, that never-gets-dark part didn't really bother me. You adjust your lifestyle — blackout curtains, or find a way to make it dark, when you're trying to sleep." Winters were obviously a much dif- ferent story. "As with anything, you adapt," Nkam- houa said. "You get used to it. But it does get hard sometimes. You go outside, and it's already dark at 2, 3 or 4. My lifestyle has kind of saved me from worrying." Lifestyle, in this case, means basket- ball lifestyle. Inside the gymnasium, it's a controlled environment. Someone always wants a game. A new crew of potential friends awaits. The budding basketball player took full advantage. "I'd just be in the gym," he noted. "When I'm in the gym, the snow is not hitting me. The lights are on, even when it's dark outside. It didn't really change. I used to go to the gym, then go home. That's how I've been living for a while now. "I've lived a lot of places, and the rea- son I've been able to adjust and be fine wherever I've lived is, I'm not focused on where I'm living. I'm more focused on what I'm doing." BASKETBALL DREW HIM BACK IN He didn't obsess over basketball in the beginning, Nkamhoua acknowl- edged. He loved to use the gym, but as he explained: "There were levels to it. When I was little, it wasn't to go work out. It was to go play. It wasn't to work on my shot, or my dribble. It was to play one-on-one, 21, or pickup. Just be with my friends and play basketball, just to be around it. We were watching older guys play or playing ourselves." At one point, the grade-school play wasn't as much fun anymore. In fact, Nkamhoua ditched the game. If absence makes the heart grow fonder, it worked overtime on the young athlete. "I started with soccer, but only played that for a year," he cautioned. "When I knew basketball was it for me was after I quit playing basketball. Around 10 or 11, I quit playing. I quit playing because I was not getting along with the other kids. After I quit playing, I just missed it so much. I felt bored, and I felt empty, and I felt like something was missing. "That's when I realized I had really Nkamhoua averaged 8.0 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game for the Finnish National Team in the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup through five games in the group stage this past summer. PHOTO COURTESY FIBA BASKETBALL