‘So frustrating’: Southwest canceled flights affect Wichita State basketball player
Cold and uncomfortable, Gus Okafor laid wide awake well past midnight in the early hours of Tuesday.
Flat on his back on the floor in a terminal of the Denver airport wasn’t exactly the ideal sleeping arrangement for the Wichita State men’s basketball player the night before the Shockers were set to open American Athletic Conference play two time zones away in Orlando, Florida.
Okafor was one of thousands of holiday travelers who were impacted by the sweeping flight cancellations on Southwest Airlines this past week, as he was stranded in Denver’s airport for more than 30 straight hours. But that wasn’t what was keeping Okafor up.
“This is my last year of college basketball and I want to play in every single game,” Okafor said. “I knew that me missing practice was going to hold me back and (affect) my minutes. That’s what my main worry was the whole time. I wanted to be back with my team and me having no control over that was just so frustrating for me.”
Following WSU’s Dec. 22 game in Wichita, Okafor returned to his hometown of Baltimore to celebrate Christmas with his family. On his way back to Wichita, Okafor was routed to Denver, where the final leg of his return flight was canceled.
He spent the entire day on Monday in the Denver airport, waiting for a flight to Wichita that never materialized. Okafor said he didn’t leave until 3 a.m. in the early hours of Tuesday before he was able to find a hotel to sleep in.
When it became clear Okafor would be unable to make it back to Wichita in time for the team’s Tuesday afternoon flight, WSU director of basketball operations Dominic Okon was able to secure Okafor a spot on a commercial flight from Denver to Orlando, where Okafor was able to meet the team late Tuesday.
Okafor was able to attend the team’s shootaround on Wednesday afternoon, but he missed both of WSU’s practices in Wichita on Monday and Tuesday. Because he was unable to go through the normal game preparation, which included film breakdown and opponent scouting, Okafor’s worst fears of missing playing time due to something out of his control came to fruition when WSU head coach Isaac Brown chose not to play him at all in the first half of Wednesday’s game at UCF.
It wasn’t until WSU trailed 35-28 with 14:05 remaining when Brown turned to Okafor off the bench. The 6-foot-6 forward grabbed two defensive rebounds immediately, then provided WSU with an instant spark — drilling two straight three-pointers that cut UCF’s lead to 35-34 with 11:02 left.
“I had to get loose a little because I didn’t play the whole game until that point,” Okafor said. “Getting those rebounds helped warm me up a little bit and then I just got an open shot and I took advantage of it.”
Once Okafor was given a chance to play, he made it where Brown couldn’t afford to take him off the court. In fact, Okafor would go on to play the final 14 minutes of WSU’s 52-45 loss to UCF, finishing with six points, four rebounds and a steal in his limited action.
He couldn’t help but wonder afterward what could have happened if not for circumstances beyond his control.
“I just really wish we would have come away with the win,” Okafor said. “And I really wish I could have done more for my team and been there to practice, so I could have had an impact in the first half of the game.”
This story was originally published December 29, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
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