Amanze Egekeze

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Amanze Egekeze
Egekeze with Yokohama in 2018
No. 12 – Kataja
PositionPower forward
LeagueKorisliiga
Personal information
Born (1995-12-03) December 3, 1995 (age 28)
Lake in the Hills, IL
NationalityNigerian / American
Listed height6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
Listed weight220 lb (100 kg)
Career information
High schoolHuntley (Huntley, Illinois)
CollegeBelmont (2014–2018)
NBA draft2018: undrafted
Playing career2018–present
Career history
2018Yokohama B-Corsairs
2019Ryukyu Golden Kings
2019Niigata Albirex BB
2019–2020PAOK
2020–2021BC Gries-Oberhoffen
2021–2022Donar
2022–presentKataja
Career highlights and awards

Amanze Ikenna Egekeze (born December 3, 1995) is a Nigerian-American professional basketball player who plays for Kataja of the Korisliiga. He also played for the Nigerian national team.[1] He is the son of Gilbert and Lize Egekeze, who are natives of Nigeria. His brothers are Uchenna and, Kemdi and has one sister Ogechi. Uchenna plays basketball at Calvin University.[2]

Early life and college career

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Egekeze played for Huntley High School, where he was the 2014 Northwest Herald Boys Basketball Player of the Year. Egekeze played on three Class 4A regional champions.[3]

Egekeze competed in college basketball for Belmont, where he scored 1,348 career points. As a senior, he was the second-leading scorer (16.8 per game) and rebounder (5.0 per game) for the Bruins. He was named to the First-team All-Ohio Valley Conference.[4][5]

Professional career

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On July 13, 2018, Egekeze signed with the Yokohama B-Corsairs of the Japanese B.League.[6] During the 2018–19 season, he also played for the Ryukyu Golden Kings and the Niigata Albirex BB from the same league.[7]

On September 1, 2019, Egekeze signed with the Greek club PAOK.[8] The 2019–20 season was complicated for PAOK. .[9] Egekeze and PAOK also participated in the Champions League where they ended at the second to last position of the D group, composed of 8 teams, with 5 wins and 9 losses, thus, not qualifying for the next round.[10]

In June 2020, Egekeze signed with the French club BC Gries-Oberhoffen.[11] Egekeze and the BCGO participated in the Leaders Cup where they ended at the bottom of the D group, composed of 3 teams, with 1 win and 3 losses, thus, not qualifying for the next round.[12]

On June 30, 2021, Egekeze signed with Dutch club Donar of the BNXT League.[13] He helped Donar win the Dutch Cup.

On August 3, 2022, Egekeze signed a one-year contract with Kataja of the Korisliiga.[14] In his first season with Kataja, He averaged 13.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1 steal. He also won the Finnish Cup and beat Salon Vilpas to win a bronze medal in Korisliiga

National team career

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In December 2020, Egekeze became a member of the Nigerian national basketball team, and played with the team in the qualifiers for AfroBasket 2021.[15]

Statistics

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Egekeze as a member of the Yokohama B-Corsairs in 2018
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

College statistics

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2014–15 Belmont 33 23 20.0 .404 .338 .837 3.2 0.7 0.8 0.5 5.4
2015–16 Belmont 31 31 22.7 .539 .422 .768 3.4 0.7 0.4 0.4 9.0
2016–17 Belmont 30 29 27.2 .487 .384 .843 5.5 0.9 0.4 0.8 11.3
2017–18 Belmont 33 33 34.5 .505 .425 .802 6.2 0.9 0.6 0.2 16.8

Career statistics

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2018–19 Yokohama 15 15 33.6 .417 .280 .804 6.4 1.6 0.9 0.7 13.9
2018–19 Ryukyu 4 4 38.2 .429 .421 .714 7.2 1.8 1.0 0.2 12.2
2018–19 Niigata 2 2 31.5 .613 .467 .857 7.0 1.0 0.5 0.5 25.5
2019–20 PAOK 20 - 12.9 .635 .360 .727 2.1 0.5 0.1 0.1 3.8
2020–21 BCGO

References

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  1. ^ BCGO (October 19, 2020). "#32 Amanze Egekeze". Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  2. ^ "A snap decision: How Huntley alum Amanze Egekeze landed on Nigeria's national basketball team". Shaw Local. 2 December 2020. Retrieved 2022-07-16.
  3. ^ Stevenson, Joe (June 12, 2018). "College basketball: Huntley grad Egekeze exploring opportunities in NBA, overseas". Northwest Herald. Archived from the original on August 5, 2018. Retrieved August 5, 2018.
  4. ^ Boclair, David (June 13, 2018). "Belmont's Egekeze hopes to plot course to NBA". Nashville Post. Retrieved August 5, 2018.
  5. ^ Boclair, David (February 27, 2018). "Belmont puts three on All-OVC first team". Nashville Post. Retrieved August 13, 2018.
  6. ^ "Basketball: Huntley graduate Egekeze signs with Japanese team". Northwest Herald. July 14, 2018. Archived from the original on August 5, 2018. Retrieved August 5, 2018.
  7. ^ "Amanze Egekeze – Player Profile". proballers.com. Retrieved October 22, 2020.
  8. ^ "Young Nigerian-American in Amanze Egekeze will continue his career in Greece with PAOK". eurohoops.net. September 19, 2019. Retrieved October 22, 2020.
  9. ^ "Panathinaikos crowned champion, Aris and PAOK stay up". ekathimerini.com. May 21, 2020. Retrieved October 22, 2020.
  10. ^ "2019–20 Basketball Champions League – Standings". championsleague.basketball. Retrieved October 22, 2020.
  11. ^ "BCGO : Egekeze, un Américain à Gries !". DNA (in French). June 17, 2020. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  12. ^ "Leaders Cup Pro B 2021". lnb.fr (in French). Retrieved October 22, 2020.
  13. ^ Brink, Adriaan van den (30 June 2021). "Amanze Egekeze nieuwe forward voor Donar". Donar (in Dutch). Retrieved 30 June 2021.
  14. ^ "Amanze Egekeze tuo kokemusta ja kokoa Kataja Basketiin". KatajaBasket.fi (in Finnish). 2022-08-03. Retrieved 2022-08-04.
  15. ^ "A snap decision: How Huntley alum Amanze Egekeze landed on Nigeria's national basketball team". Shaw Local. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
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