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Ben Uzoh

Benjamin Chukwukelo Uzoh (born March 18, 1988) is a Nigerian-American former basketball player. He played in international competitions for Nigeria.[1] Standing at 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) and playing at the point guard, Uzoh played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the New Jersey Nets and Toronto Raptors. He also played for several teams across North America, Europe, South America and Africa.

Ben Uzoh
Toronto Raptors
PositionScout
LeagueNBA
Personal information
Born (1988-03-18) March 18, 1988 (age 36)
Houston, Texas, U.S.
NationalityAmerican / Nigerian
Listed height6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Listed weight205 lb (93 kg)
Career information
High schoolWarren (San Antonio, Texas)
CollegeTulsa (2006–2010)
NBA draft2010: undrafted
Playing career2010–2022
PositionPoint guard
Number18, 6
Career history
2010–2011New Jersey Nets
2011→Springfield Armor
2011Lokomotiv Kuban
2012Rio Grande Valley Vipers
2012Cleveland Cavaliers
2012Toronto Raptors
2012–2013Springfield Armor
2013–2014Tulsa 66ers
2014Canton Charge
2015Lagos Islanders
2017Okapi Aalstar
2018Caballeros de Culiacan
2019–2020Paris
2021Rivers Hoopers
2021Cape Town Tigers
2022Marinos
Career highlights and awards
Stats at NBA.com Edit this at Wikidata
Stats at Basketball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Medals
Men's basketball
Representing  Nigeria
FIBA Africa Championship
Gold medal – first place 2015 Tunisia

College career

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Uzoh played for the Tulsa Golden Hurricane over his four-year college basketball career.

Freshman Sophomore Junior Senior
9.9 PPG 15.6 PPG 14.0 PPG 15.3 PPG
5.0 RPG 5.4 RPG 4.9 RPG 4.7 RPG
1.5 APG 2.3 APG 4.7 APG 4.7 APG

Uzoh is the only player in school history to be ranked top 10 among points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. He's a three time All-Conference USA recipient including his selection to the first team his senior year. He started in 140 games out 141 game in his college career.

Professional career

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In the summer of 2010, Uzoh earned Portsmouth Invitational Tournament All Third Team.

After going undrafted in the 2010 NBA draft, Uzoh signed a partially guaranteed contract with the New Jersey Nets of the National Basketball Association. On January 5, 2011, Uzoh was given a guaranteed contract to play out the rest of the year in New Jersey. He was briefly assigned to the Springfield Armor of the NBA D-League, during the month of March 2011.[2]

In October 2011, he signed a one-year contract with Lokomotiv Kuban of the Russian League,[3] but was released after playing just two games.[4]

On March 27, 2012, he signed a 10-day contract with the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association.[5] On April 16, 2012, the Raptors announced they had signed Ben Uzoh for the remainder of the 2011–2012 season. He recorded a triple-double on April 26, against the Nets, the first by a Raptor in eleven years.[6]

Uzoh joined the Denver Nuggets for their training camp in October 2012,[7] but did not make the team's final roster.[8] He was then acquired by the D-League team the Rio Grande Valley Vipers.[9] However, on November 5, 2012, Uzoh was traded to the Armor for Tim Ohlbrecht.[10]

On October 31, 2013, Uzoh was acquired by the Tulsa 66ers in a trade involving the Iowa Energy and the Springfield Armor.[11] On January 22, 2014, he was traded to the Canton Charge.[12] On March 21, 2014, he was waived by the Charge due to a season-ending injury.[13]

Ben Uzoh went to Nigeria in 2015 where he signed on to play for the Lagos Islanders.[14]

On March 12, 2017, Uzoh signed with Belgian club Okapi Aalstar for the rest of the 2016–17 season.[15]

On February 10, 2018, he signed with Caballeros de Culiacan of the CIBACOPA league in Mexico.[16] He earned league All-Star honors.[17]

On November 24, 2019, Uzoh signed with Paris Basketball of the LNB Pro B.[18] On January 20, 2020, Paris Basketball and Uzoh jointly decided not to continue their collaboration.[19]

In April 2021, Uzoh signed with the Nigerian team Rivers Hoopers to play in the inaugural season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL).[20] He scored the first-ever points in the BAL in the season opener against Patriots BBC.[21] He also became the first ex-NBA player to play in the newly established competition.[22] The Hoopers were eliminated in the regular season after two losses and one win, with Uzoh averaging a team-leading 14.7 points per game.

In September 2021, Uzoh was on the roster of South African team Cape Town Tigers and helped the team win its first-ever national championship. He recorded 22 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists in the championship game against Jozi Nuggets.[23]

On July 4, 2022, he signed with Marinos of the Venezuelan SuperLiga.[24]

Post-playing career

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In October 2023, Uzoh became a scout for his former team, the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA), where he also re-united with Masai Ujiri.[25]

National team career

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Uzoh has played for the Nigerian national basketball team at the 2013, 2015, and 2017 FIBA Men's African Championships. He was also a member of the Nigerian team that participated at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.[26]

Afrobasket 2013 AfroBasket 2015 Rio Olympics 2016 Fiba World Cup 2019
10.6 PPG 5.6 RPG 5.0 APG 6.8 PPG
8.1 PPG 3.1 RPG 3.0 APG 2.2 APG
7.4 PPG 1.4 RPG 2.6 APG 1.6 RPG

Career statistics

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Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

NBA

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Regular season

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2010–11 New Jersey 42 0 10.4 .424 .375 .589 1.5 1.6 0.3 0.2 3.8
2011–12 Cleveland 2 0 6.5 .400 .000 .000 2.0 1.0 0.5 0.0 2.0
2011–12 Toronto 16 8 22.3 .351 .000 .579 3.9 3.7 1.0 0.2 4.8
Career 60 8 13.5 .395 .333 .587 2.1 2.2 0.5 0.2 4.0

BAL

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2021 Rivers Hoopers 3 3 29.1 .559 .000 .667 4.7 5.3 1.0 .7 14.7
Career 3 3 29.1 .559 .000 .667 4.7 5.3 1.0 .7 14.7

References

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  1. ^ D-Tigers Begin World Cup Qualifier
  2. ^ Nets send Uzoh to D-League.[permanent dead link‍]
  3. ^ "Lokomotiv Kuban announces Ben Uzoh". Archived from the original on December 5, 2011. Retrieved October 3, 2011.
  4. ^ "Lokomotiv Kuban and Ben Uzoh part ways". Archived from the original on December 31, 2011. Retrieved October 28, 2011.
  5. ^ Raptors rule Jerryd Bayless out for season; sign Ben Uzoh to 10-day contract. Archived July 23, 2012, at archive.today
  6. ^ Uzoh has triple-double as Raptors rout Nets.
  7. ^ Nuggets announce 2012 training camp roster.
  8. ^ "Denver Nuggets waive guards Anthony Carter, Ben Uzoh". Archived from the original on April 21, 2015. Retrieved October 25, 2012.
  9. ^ Full List of 2012 Returning, Affiliate and Local Tryout Players Invited to NBA D-League Training Camps. Archived 2015-12-18 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ Armor acquire Uzoh.
  11. ^ 66ers Acquire No. 1 Overall Pick and Ben Uzoh Archived 2013-12-04 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ Canton Acquires Uzoh From Tulsa Archived 2014-02-22 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ^ Charge Reacquire Shane Edwards Archived 2014-03-22 at the Wayback Machine
  14. ^ "Jason Ebie, Ben Uzoh and William Ndoumbe combine for 61 points against Warriors on historic night at Landmark Centre | BWB". www.basketballwithinborders.com. Archived from the original on July 24, 2018. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
  15. ^ "Ben Uzoh signs with Okapi Aalstar". Archived from the original on March 13, 2017. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
  16. ^ "Ben Uzoh se une a Caballeros de Culiacán" [Ben Uzoh joins the Caballeros de Culiacán]. GenteSinaloa.com (in Spanish). February 12, 2018. Retrieved October 19, 2022.
  17. ^ "Todo listo para la lluvia de Estrellas en Culiacán" (in Spanish). CIBACOPA. May 19, 2018. Archived from the original on October 25, 2020. Retrieved June 10, 2023.
  18. ^ "Paris Basketball sign Ben Uzoh". Sportando. November 24, 2019. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
  19. ^ "Paris Basketball". January 20, 2020.
  20. ^ "Rivers Hoopers sign D'Tigers star ahead of Basketball Africa League – AllBallerZone". Allballerzone.com. Archived from the original on April 15, 2021. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
  21. ^ "Ben Uzoh scores first BAL points but J. Cole's Patriots bag first win". ESPN.com. May 17, 2021. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
  22. ^ "Uzoh set to make BAL history". Punch Newspapers. May 14, 2021. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
  23. ^ "D'Tigers Ben Uzoh leads Cape Town Tigers to South Africa club championship". Premium Times. September 10, 2021. Retrieved September 14, 2021.
  24. ^ Flores, Sairuby Alayon (July 4, 2022). "Ben Uzoh se une al acorazado oriental". Líder en deportes (in Spanish). Retrieved July 5, 2022.
  25. ^ "New Raptors scout Ben Uzoh and president Masai Ujiri share more than Nigerian roots". ESPN.com. October 27, 2023. Retrieved January 31, 2024.
  26. ^ "Ben Uzoh impressed with the growing basketball culture in Nigeria | BWB". www.basketballwithinborders.com. Archived from the original on July 24, 2018. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
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