Ugandan brothers Arthur Kaluma, Adam Seiko square off in NCAA tourney
FORT WORTH, Texas (BVM) – When the No. 8-seeded San Diego State University Aztecs take on the No. 9-seeded Creighton Bluejays today in the NCAA Tournament’s first round, there will be a much deeper rivalry taking place on the court. That’s because SDSU senior guard Adam Seiko will be going up against his younger brother in Creighton freshman forward Arthur Kaluma. While the two have shared the court before, in most cases this has been when they both represented the same team, not going head-to-head.
Brothers Arthur Kaluma and Adam Seiko will face off in the First Round of #MarchMadness when Creighton takes on San Diego State 👏 pic.twitter.com/F3Oxt5T18J
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 16, 2022
The two Ugandan natives are used to playing with each other, most recently as members of their home country’s national team during AfroBasket 2021. Both boys started for the Uganda national team during the competition with Kaluma averaging 13.2 points and Seiko averaging 13.0 points. While the two have the same bloodlines, their college careers have been vastly different so far.
One more Arthur Kaluma story, this one from @FIBA about he and his brother Adam Seiko, who also plays for Uganda.https://t.co/oYs5M9TLzG pic.twitter.com/MXVLKwqrWw
— Rob Anderson (@_robanderson) August 29, 2021
Older brother Seiko was rated as a three-star player by Rivals at the time of his signing. After he averaged 10.4 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.6 steals as a senior for Sierra Canyon High School where he helped the team go 104-15 over his career. Seiko began his career with San Diego State during the 2017-18 season, where he would redshirt as a freshman. Though he has appeared in 116 games for the Aztecs since his first year of playing in 2018-19, he has only started 14 of them, seven in each of the past two seasons. So far this season, Seiko has averaged 5.3 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.0 assists while playing 23.3 minutes a game.
Hope fans brought an umbrella tonight, because it's raining threes in Viejas @adamseiko2 has 11 points for the Aztecs following his 10th straight three #GoAztecs pic.twitter.com/TaipNtQMRf
— San Diego State Men's Basketball (@Aztec_MBB) December 23, 2021
With Seiko’s contributions, the Aztecs were able to go 23-8 and made it to the Mountain West Conference Tournament championship where they fell 53-52 against No. 1 seed Boise State. While they weren’t able to get the automatic bid by winning their conference tournament, the Aztecs earned the Midwest region’s No. 8 seed, setting up their game against Creighton in Fort Worth.
Kaluma, meanwhile, has burst onto the scene for the Bluejays as a freshman. The highest-ranked recruit of Creighton head coach Greg McDermott’s tenure, Kaluma has lived up to the billing as he started 28 of 29 games he’s played while averaging 9.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.2 assists in the 25.7 minutes a game he’s played. The 6-foot-7 forward’s play helped the Bluejays to a 22-11 record and an appearance in the Big East Conference Tournament championship where the team fell to Villanova 54-48.
🚀🌴𝙏𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙁𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 🚀🌴#GoJays x @___kingart pic.twitter.com/RaOwWnjBGo
— Creighton Men’s Basketball (@BluejayMBB) November 22, 2021
Creighton holds the all-time series advantage over San Diego State at 4-3, however the Aztecs have won the only two previous games that took place on a neutral floor. Also to the advantage of SDSU, McDermott is 1-3 all-time against the Aztecs and 1-2 as Creighton’s head coach. San Diego State also holds the most recent win in the series as they won 83-52 at the 19th Annual Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational in November 2019.
Though the two brothers will be facing each other’s team on the court, don’t expect to see the two face off against one another too much as guard Seiko being put up against forward Kaluma likely only would happen in a switch or a defensive breakdown. While they may not see much of each other during the game, expect plenty of conversation and a little bit of trash talking between the two following the action.
The game will take place at 7:27 p.m. EST at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth. The game will air on truTV as part of the March Madness tournament broadcasting.
Photo: Creighton men’s basketball freshman Arthur Kaluma will try to lead his Bluejays past his own brother, San Diego State senior Adam Seiko, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. (Photo: Grace Hollars/USA Today Sports Images; Courtesy: Creighton Athletics) Ncaa Butler Bulldogs Vs Creighton Bluejays