Nike South Beach Product Niko Oliver Thriving At Ridgewater
Throughout his high school career at Oak Ridge and post-graduate season at The Conrad School in Orlando, Niko Oliver was known for his menacing and in-your-grill defensive tactics. A well-built 6-foot-4 guard, Oliver played with toughness and physicality in applying pressure on opponents’ go-to-guys.
His ability to induce ugly, off-balance shots and provide pesky defense on scorers made him a different breed. Now at Ridgewater (JUCO) in Minnesota, Oliver is more of an offensive threat. The Orlando native is averaging 18 points, 6.3 boards.
He’s shooting it at a robust 50 percent from both the field and beyond the arc, authoring hyper efficiency.
“First and foremost as a player, I pride myself on my impact on the defensive end,” said Oliver, who scored 22 points (9-17 FG, 4-7 3FG) during an 84-67 loss to Northland.
“If I can stop my opponent from scoring, if I can change his shot selection and negate him, at the end of the day I’m winning. Second off, I really look to make my teammates a beneficiary of my presence out there on the court. I always try to make those around me better. I try to find them at their spots, known where they are on the court and kick in the right pass at the opportune time.”
Oliver played for Nike South Beach at a time of prosperity for the Miami-based AAU program. The team featured one of the country’s elite defenders in the talented but troubled 7-foot-1 rim protector Zach Brown. At Oak Ridge high school, Oliver played alongside one of the country’s best scorers in Georgia Tech-commit Micheal Devoe (now at Montverde Academy under head coach Kevin Boyle).
Playing alongside Devoe in practice everyday helped enhance Oliver’s skill set as a lockdown defender. It was necessity for a lockdown man who is constantly looking to neutralize high-scoring threats.
“We really had a great relationship as teammates, especially because we were able to constantly make each other better and work harder because of the level we brought it to in practice,” said Oliver, harkening back on his days at Oak Ridge.
“As a defensive guy above all, me guarding Mike basically helped me learn how to work against an elite scorer. Mike guarding me, it helped him a lot because he was only a sophomore at the time. So, it kind of gave him the chance to guard a bigger guard on paper has the size advantage on him.”