A new beginning: Network of mentors inspires Anei to strengthen basketball dreams, change perspective

Yor Anei, a freshman on the Oklahoma State men's basketball team, overcame struggles in high school to achieve his college basketball goals.

Victor Williams’ eyes scanned the basketball court for the tallest person in the gymnasium.

Bewildered, Williams couldn’t find him.

Williams, the coach of Team Rush, an AAU squad in Kansas City, looked for Yor Anei, a 6-foot-10 junior power forward.

That night at a Shawnee Mission South game in Overland Park, Kansas, Williams learned mostly about what Anei wasn’t doing.