Education
He is from Saint Paul, Minnesota and attended Saint Bernards High School.
He is from Saint Paul, Minnesota and attended Saint Bernards High School.
Before turning pro, he played for the Minnesota Golden Gophers men"s basketball team Mbakwe stands 6 feet 9.5 inches (2070 cm) tall, and is 240 pounds. Before attending the University of Minnesota, Mbakwe played at Marquette University for the 2007-2008 season where he suffered from chronic knee injuries.
Foreign his 2008-2009 season, he transferred to Miami Dade College and led his team to the Southern Conference Championship.
After redshirting in 2009-2010, Mbakwe transferred to the University of Minnesota to play under head coach Tubby Smith. In his first year playing for Smith, he led the Big Ten Conference in rebounding at 10.5 rebounds per game.
He was the first player for the Gophers since Kris Humphries to lead the Big Ten in rebounding, and also became number three on the all time rebounding list at the University of Minnesota when he collected 327 rebounds that season. In July of 2013, Mbakwe signed his first professional contract with the Italian team Virtus Roma.
On August 22, 2013, it was officially confirmed that he signed contract for the 2013-2014 season.
On July 6, 2014, he signed with the German club Brose Baskets for the 2014-2015 season. On July 1, 2015, he signed a three year contract with the Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv.