Golden Hurricane Player Reflects On His Home Country Of Ukraine

On February 23, Tulsa Basketball played SMU in Dallas. Nikita Konstantynovskyi played for eight minutes, scoring four points. After the game, he called his parents who are home in his native Ukraine; eight hours ahead of him.

"It was around five o'clock down there, and that's when things started getting worse. I was on the phone with my family and I heard the bombs landing," said Nikita.

Since that night, Nikita has lived a type of double life; part on the court and part keeping tabs with his brother, sister, and parents.

"I'm on the phone with them 24/7. It's so sad to hear, hearing all those bombs and sirens going off," said Nikita. "I don't bring any emotions on the floor. I just keep playing my game, and whatever I do on the basketball floor, I want to dedicate to Ukraine."

It's about 5,600 miles from Tulsa to Kyiv. Basketball took Nikita on that journey.

"They were trying to bomb the radio and TV stations, and my old basketball gym was located just right next to it," added Nikita. "Good basketball down there. I love my hometown. I love walking in the streets, I love hanging out with my friends."

While the prospect of war has hung over Ukraine for nearly a decade, it was never something Nikita considered as a real possibility.

"We heard of it, but I couldn't imagine myself, I couldn't imagine Kyiv being in war, like on fire. In my nightmares, I couldn't imagine the situation that is happening right now," said Nikita.

As he watches his countrymen desperately defend his homeland from half a world away, the Golden Hurricane sophomore has one message to share with the world.

"I'm proud to be Ukranian, because the Ukranian people are strong and brave," said Nikita. "We are against the war and we don't want this."