Morris Ugusuk arrived in South Carolina nearly 5,000 miles from home, wide-eyed and unsure of what to expect. All he knew was he wanted to hoop. The Helsinki, Finland native first picked up a basketball as a little kid when a family friend — someone he describes as an “uncle or big brother figure” — took him out to play one day.
That day turned into a lifetime. The moment the ball was in his hands, he was hooked. “I just fell in love with it ever since,” Ugusuk said. But love alone doesn’t get you to the SEC. A leap of faith to chase the dream Growing up, Ugusuk played mostly for fun.
He wasn’t really thinking about college ball as a serious possibility until his freshman year at Drive Basketball Academy in Finland. That’s when he buckled down and started putting in the hours in the gym.
Then, he saw he had the potential to play at the next level, and it was grind time from there. And the grind paid off. By his junior year, scholarship offers rolled in, with Pittsburgh and Oklahoma State offering him before he ultimately committed to South Carolina in April 2023. “I always wanted to play college basketball,” Ugusuk said. “That was my dream since I was a little kid, as soon as I really started to think about it. So college was always one of my big dreams, and of course, the NBA. College is the best way to get to the NBA. It’s not the only way, but it was the best way. So I took my chances with it.”
On paper, USC wasn’t the most obvious pick. The Gamecocks were coming off an 11-21 season in head coach Lamont Paris’ first year. But for Ugusuk, it wasn’t about immediate wins — it was about trust. Paris’ vision for the program and belief in Ugusuk’s role made all the difference.
He had to take his talents to Columbia. “We built that trust over the time period we had conversations,” Ugusuk said. “I think the connection with me and Lamont really took the advantage over other schools. Pretty much the whole facility and all the coaching staff — I think I had the best connection with them.”
The decision to leave Finland wasn’t just about basketball. It was a leap of faith in every sense. Moving across the world meant leaving behind family, friends and a familiar culture for an entirely new way of life. At least he wasn’t alone. His longtime friend and former Drive Academy teammate, Okku Federiko, committed to USC shortly after Ugusuk, giving him a piece of home in Columbia. The only problem? Federiko hasn’t been on the court with Ugusuk this season due to NCAA eligibility issues. Still, they kept in touch, playing video games together.
Leaving Finland also meant giving up correct pronunciations of his name. That is, until midway through his sophomore season when he finally told his teammates they were saying it wrong. “They just had it wrong; I never said anything, so I was just kind of letting it go,” Ugusuk said, laughing. “And then one day, they just asked me at practice. So they fixed it.” By the way, it’s pronounced OO-GUH-sook.
Leave a Reply