Senior center Alex Oriakhi has felt like this before. Passionate, but fatigued. An entire fan base looking on, hoping that you’ll be the one to lead them through the madness.

It’s not exactly the same as it was before. He’s older now, more experienced. He knows this is his last chance and he’s not willing to let anyone mess it up.

He remembers the feeling of being a champion. He remembers his sophomore season at the University of Connecticut, when nobody believed the Huskies would be able to make any noise in the postseason. He remembers what it was like to prove them all wrong on a team that won its last 11 games and became national champions.

Two years later, Oriakhi has a new challenge: helping Missouri advance past the second round of the NCAA tournament, something the Tigers haven’t achieved since the 2008-2009 season.

When he first helped the Huskies make a tournament run, he was a young center getting his first major postseason experience. Now, as a senior whose last game could be any day now, he has become the elder statesman of a squad that has struggled to find consistency despite lofty expectations entering the season.

He’s the most experienced postseason veteran on the team and he only wants one thing, to be remembered for helping Missouri win. Nothing else matters for the 22-year old.

It’s win or go home for the Tigers, but for Oriakhi it’s win or that’s it. His college career will come to a close with Missouri’s fate, and the 6’9″ forward from Massachusetts is well aware.

Going into the NCAA tournament, he just wants to give back to the team that in one season has helped him completely reshape his game and how other teams perceive him.

“I tell my teammates ‘I don’t care about points, I don’t care about how many minutes I play, I just want to win,'” Oriakhi said. “They see me willing to give all that up, I hope they’ll do the same so we win. It’s definitely been great, man, but I want to win.”

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Before heading to Nashville for the Southeastern Conference Tournament, coach Frank Haith compared this year’s Missouri team to the 2011 National Championship Connecticut squad that Oriakhi was a part of during his sophomore year.

“I think their team was made up like ours is,” Haith said. “You gotta have a little star power, which I think we do have, and we got length, we got size. We’re defending pretty good right now, I like where we’re at defensively.”

The difference is that Connecticut swept its conference tournament after a 9-9 regular season conference record on its way to a national championship. The Huskies got hot at the right time. Can Oriakhi help Missouri do the same?

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He’s never been a scorer. He’s the rebounder, the guy in the paint scraping for rebounds and then giving the ball to the guards to run the offense. In postgame press conferences, he’s joked his best offense is his rebounding. It’s not a glory-filled job, but it’s what he enjoys doing and he’s committed to doing it well.

Somewhere down the line this season, Oriakhi’s game began to change.

In the Tigers’ first SEC home game on Jan. 8, forward Laurence Bowers went down with a knee injury that would sideline him for five games at the start of conference play. At the point in the season, Bowers was the go-to guy for offense down low, and Missouri struggled without him. Bowers’ injury did give Missouri one silver lining, and in turn helped Oriakhi establish himself as a force to be reckoned with on the team. In his final college season, Oriakhi has career highs in points and field goal percentage, as well as free throw shooting.

“It feels extremely great to know my coaching staff and my teammates have a lot of confidence in me,” Oriakhi said.

He’s improved in ways he couldn’t have imagined doing before the season started. He came to Missouri out of shape and low on confidence. He might leave as a professional basketball player.

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In the span of one season, Oriakhi has managed to change the possibilities of his post-college career. Whereas once onlookers had no idea what he would do after college, he is now being predicted to be a second-round draft pick in the NBA.

“From where I was, from where I came from, it’s unbelievable, man, it really is,” Oriakhi said.

In a season full of achievements, Oriakhi points to his breakout game against Ole Miss on Feb. 9 as a major moment in his career. In the Tigers’ 98-79 win over the Rebels, Oriakhi scored 22 points and hit the boards for 18 rebounds. After four years and countless attempts, he had finally scored more than 20 points in a game, a moment he said he will not soon forget.

Roughly a month later, Oriakhi sees that moment as his tipping point as a college player, but he’s still humble about overhauling his game in his year at Missouri.

“A lot of the credit goes to the people surrounding me,” he said.

With his career winding down and his future still uncertain, Oriakhi said he’ll be playing even harder in games going forward. In a season that’s seen him jaw at referees and argue with opposing players, he said his passion in the postseason will be even higher.

“We’re going to find out how much it means to us by how our guys play, including myself,” Oriakhi said.

In these final days, the player whom Haith affectionately referred to as “the jolly green giant” will keep his demeanor on and off the court the same — kind and gentle outside of games, loud and passionate during.

“I’m not going to stop (being) who I am or how I’ve been playing lately,” Oriakhi said. “I’m definitely going to be passionate. This could be it for me. I’m going to play as desperate as possible.”

Oriakhi knows his time in college is winding down, but he’s not willing to leave it behind just yet. No matter where he ends up after the Tigers’ final game, Oriakhi’s going to keep being himself. It’s all he can do.

“I’m going to play like I’m starving, man,” he said. ”You have to play like you’re willing to do anything to win.”