TAMPA, Fla. – Feb. 3, 2026 — South Florida men's basketball recorded a promotional message for Bulls Unlimited, the athletic department's 24-hour audio streaming service that carries each game before the season began.

This is Josh Omojafo. Your radio home for Bulls basketball is Bulls Unlimited. Make sure ya'll remember how to pronounce the last name. You're going to hear it a lot.

"I'm used to it getting messed up,'' Omojafo said with a laugh. "I've heard … Omaha-foe … Emoji-foe … so many versions.''

For the record, it's Oh-muh-jah-foe.

But on one point, there's no confusion. Since joining USF, Omojafo has made quite a name for himself. He's a key element for the Bulls (14-8, 6-3 American Conference) during an important week at the Yuengling Center. USF must protect its home court on Wednesday night by hosting the UTSA Roadrunners (4-17, 0-9), then there's a pivotal Sunday afternoon home game against first-place Tulsa (19-3, 7-2).

Omojafo, a 6-foot-5, 200-pound senior guard transfer who helped Robert Morris University earn an NCAA Tournament bid last season, has become USF's most versatile player.

He scores (averaging 12.7 points with a career-high 33 against George Washington University).

He rebounds (averaging 5.4, second on the team, with a pair of double-digit efforts).

He distributes (his 47 assists rank second).

And man, does Omojafo get to the free-throw line. All season long, he has been among the nation's leaders in attempts and makes. He's also USF's second-best free-throw shooter (78.6 percent).



The mentality that makes it all happen?

"I like to get downhill,'' Omojafo said. "I like to attack.''

Looking for a two-sentence scouting report on Mr. Omojafo? That's it.

"He's a problem to defend,'' USF assistant coach Jamie Quarles said. "He gets downhill at a high, high level. What do you do with this guy? Put a traditional four-man on him? He'll drive past those guys. Put a smaller guard on him? He'll kill them with physicality.

"Josh means so much to us. Because he's so versatile, he's such a big piece to the overall puzzle of what we're trying to do. No matter what we ask, he never complains. He just does his job. He's a huge part of the success we've been having.''

Yet, Omojafo is rarely the headliner when USF's assets are highlighted. The interior focus naturally goes to Izaiyah Nelson (justifiably so), one of the nation's top rebounders and a double-double machine, and more recently, the shot-blocking prowess of Daimion Collins. Everybody loves USF's splash brothers (Joseph Pinion and Wes Enis, both making a run at the school's single-season 3-point shooting record) and the high-flying point guard, CJ Brown, the league's top assist man.

Omojafo usually floats somewhere near the middle, a multi-faceted performer who keeps everything together.

"You could say I've been underrated or overlooked, but I really don't care about that,'' Omojafo said. "I'm all about winning. If you look at the teams I've been on, they tend to win games, and that's what it's all about. If we can all get USF to the highest level, reach our potential and get to the postseason, that's what I'm after.''

Omojafo, who has Nigerian bloodlines, grew up in Hamilton, Ontario, a Canadian town just outside of Toronto. When he finished high-school hoops at Lincoln Prep — naturally as his team's leading scorer — he had no firm college offers. As in zero. When NCAA Division II Gannon University emerged as a potential suitor, Omojafo jumped immediately and headed to Erie, Pa.



It was a mess.

Gannon finished 3-23. Omojafo regularly remembers seeing most of the crowd leaving at halftime. He believed his team had talent. But whether it was a narrow defeat, a buzzer-beater, or a blowout, the games all ran together in a depressing pattern. Almost everyone else fled — or was asked to leave. Omojafo, on blind faith, opted to stay another season with new head coach Jordan Fee (now an assistant coach at Florida Atlantic University), who loved the player's competitive spirit.

Gannon, led by Omojafo, promptly recorded the greatest one-season turnaround in NCAA basketball history (regardless of division or gender). The Golden Knights went from 3-23 to 32-2, reaching the 2024 NCAA Division II Tournament's Elite Eight just months after being considered a laughingstock. Omojafo, selected as an All-American, was clearly the target of Division I schools. And he picked … Robert Morris, which was coming off a 10-22 mark, its fourth consecutive losing season.

"People couldn't believe I went to a place without a history of winning,'' Omojafo said. "But Robert Morris stuck with me through the transfer process. So I'm like, why not? Our season started slow, then we began to click. And before you know it — boom! — we were part of March Madness.''

The Colonials won 16 of their last 17 games, including an 89-78 victory against Youngstown State in the Horizon League Tournament final, to clinch an automatic NCAA Tournament bid. It was Omojafo's driving layup with seven minutes to go that gave No. 15-seeded Robert Morris a one-point lead in the NCAA first-rounder against No. 2 Alabama as Cleveland's Rocket Arena roared for the underdog. Despite Omojafo scoring 10 of his 12 points in the second half, the Crimson Tide rallied for a 90-81 win.

Shortly after that, when Bryan Hodgson was hired as USF's head coach, Omojafo entered the transfer portal and was on the move again.

"We saw how well he played against Alabama in the NCAA Tournament game, but once we looked into his numbers, we were really impressed with his physicality on the defensive end and his ability to draw fouls,'' Hodgson said. "Josh is one of the really good stories in the transfer portal. He has done right by everywhere he has been, helping his teams win at every level.

"You have to account for his ability to get to the basket, and one of his biggest assets is defense. He always draws one of the toughest assignments, and he generally does a great job taking on a difficult offensive matchup.''

Omojafo saw a major opportunity at USF — and his instincts are coming true.

"We are on the verge of really taking off,'' Omojafo said. "Everything I experienced with Robert Morris at the NCAA Tournament — all the attention and excitement — I want that so bad for us at USF. It's a rare thing. I can be at three different destinations in three years and get to the NCAA Tournament each time.''

Probably not a coincidence.



"I always knew I was a good player,'' Omojafo said. "I believed in me. My family believed in me.''

Joshua Ayomide Omojafo — the Nigerian middle name means "My joy has arrived'' — learned meaningful lessons from his mother, Ayoola, a nurse at a children's hospital. Yoruba, a Nigerian language, was spoken at home. Hard work, family loyalty, and faithfulness were emphasized.

There's no doubt that Omojafo kept the faith when others might have had doubts. From unwanted to valuable, from overlooked to essential, Omojafo has become a key player to watch as USF begins its American Conference stretch run.

Some teammates call him J.O. Fans like the catchy "JoMo.'' Say it out loud: Oh-muh-jah-foe.

Remember the name.

You're going to hear it a lot.

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About USF Men's Basketball
South Florida men's basketball named Bryan Hodgson, 37, as the program's 12th head coach on March 24, 2025. Hodgson came to Tampa from Arkansas State, where he led the program to back-to-back 20-win seasons and its first postseason appearance since 1999 in his two seasons at the helm.
 
The program, entering its 55^th season in 2025-26, most recently won the American Athletic Conference regular season championship in 2023-24 and has made 13 postseason appearances, including three NCAA Tournaments, nine NITs, and a CBI championship in 2019. Three former Bulls – Chucky Atkins, Charlie Bradley, and Rodenko Dobras – have had their jerseys retired and are members of the USF Athletic Hall of Fame. The Bulls play their home games at the 10,400-seat Yuengling Center on the USF Tampa campus.

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