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Texas Tech’s ‘captain’ Norense Odiase using basketball to overcome grief

Texas Tech senior center Norense Odiase thinks about his cousins every day.

Esosa Oyemwense and Osaretin Igbinedion died in an automobile accident last month in Lubbock, and it’s been a trying time for the 23-year-old out of North Crowley High School.

“It’s hard to channel it at this time,” Odiase said last week at the Big 12 basketball tournament in Kansas City, Mo. “I still think about it every day. I still battle, but just playing for these guys is pushing me every day.”

Odiase has been using basketball as an escape from the tragic realities over the past month.