TULSA, Okla. – Making the jump to NCAA Division I for his redshirt senior season, ORU men's basketball guard RJ Glasper is excited to showcase his talents on college basketball's highest stage.
 
After making the decision to transfer from Arkansas Tech, a NCAA Division II program where he led the team in scoring each of the last three years, he did not have to wait long for offers to come his way.
 
"When I put my name into the transfer portal, Coach Solo (Solomon Bozeman) was the first one to contact me and recruited me harder than anybody else," Glasper said. "I liked the vision ORU had for me as far as becoming a better player and a better person, so that helped me with my decision. I felt like I needed to end my college career with a team that can develop me as much as possible before trying to play a pro career."
 
Glasper got a chance to come to campus earlier than the rest of the eight newcomers on the Golden Eagles roster arriving in July. That eased the transition and gave him a head start on learning ORU's style of play and emphasis on protecting the basketball, a key component for a team that ranked ninth in the NCAA for fewest team turnovers a season ago.
 
"It really wasn't a tough transition, but I had to learn to do things different than with any other coach I had played with before. Watching film and constantly wanting to learn; I picked up a lot of stuff fast," Glasper added.
 
When he was joined by the rest of his ORU teammates at the start of the semester, Glasper quickly found the overall chemistry of the team falling into place. That was a key factor for him coming into a new locker room and getting to know every player on and off the court.
 
"I feel like everything happened naturally. For me, it was more about figuring out, as a point guard, people's personalities and tendencies. As a leader, that's important because you have to know how to approach certain people and how to get the best out of them."
 
Now that he has adjusted to ORU's offensive and defensive schemes, it's time for Glasper to demonstrate the skills that led to him scoring more than 1,500 points in three seasons with the Wonder Boys. He also posted a nearly 2:1 assist to turnover ratio averaging 5.1 assists per game in 82 outings.
 
"My style of play is fast and with space so I feel like that fits our team as coach wants to play with pace and space. I like to score the ball and get my teammates involved. Coach likes players that can not only make play for themselves, but make plays for other people. He likes tough people, not just physically tough, but mentally tough, and I think I fit both of those categories."
 
Glasper will get his first chance to step on the court for the navy and gold when the 2020-21 campaign gets underway Nov. 25.
 
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