Alex Jensen (born May 16, 1976) is an American former professional basketball player, and current assistant coach for the

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference, Northwest Division (NBA), ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA). He was a standout college player at the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

College career

Jensen,

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

's 1994

Mr. Basketball Mr. Basketball is an unofficial award given to the person chosen as the best high school boys basketball player in many U.S. states, regions, or metropolitan areas. Conversely, the title Miss Basketball or Ms. Basketball is used for the best high ...

from Centerville, played for coach

Rick Majerus Richard Raymond Majerus (February 17, 1948 – December 1, 2012) was an American basketball coach and TV analyst. He coached at Marquette University (1983–1986), Ball State University (1987–1989), the University of Utah (1989–2004), and S ...

. As a freshman, he averaged 24.8 minutes, 6.7 points and 6.1

rebounds per game 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

. Following his first season, Jensen left to complete a two-year

Latter-day Saint Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Upon returning from his mission, Jensen entered the starting lineup for the 1997–98 season. Jensen and teammates

Andre Miller Andre Lloyd Miller (born March 19, 1976) is an American former professional basketball player and the current head coach for the Grand Rapids Gold. Miller has played professional basketball for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Clippers, Phil ...

Michael Doleac Michael Scott Doleac (born June 15, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player. Doleac was selected 12th overall in the 1998 NBA draft by the Orlando Magic. He graduated from Central Catholic High School in Portland, Oregon in 1 ...

, and

Hanno Möttölä Hanno Aleksanteri Möttölä (born 9 September 1976) is a Finnish former professional basketball player. Möttölä played for the Atlanta Hawks in the National Basketball Association (NBA), at the power forward position, where he became the first ...

, led the Utes to one of the best seasons in school history, as the Utes went 30–4 and played for the 1998 National Championship, losing to

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

. Jensen averaged 6.8 points and 5.2 rebounds and was named to the All-West Regional team for the NCAA tournament. As a junior, Jensen took another step in his development as he made the All-

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington (state), Washington, and Texa ...

team (Pacific Division) and the WAC All-Defensive team after averaging 12.1 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. He was also the 1999

WAC men's basketball tournament The Western Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament is the conference championship tournament in men's basketball for the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). Even though the WAC was founded in 1962, the annual tournament has only been held ...

MVP as he led the Utes back to the NCAA tournament. As a senior, Jensen was the first

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations o ...

player of the year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year (POY) . In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is he ...

as the Utes became a charter member of the league. Jensen averaged 13.1 points and 7.5 rebounds per game that season and scored 1,279 points and collected 896 rebounds for his college career.

Professional career

Following the close of his college career, Jensen began an international career that would bring him to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. While he was in Turkey, he was named All-

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. Originally known as the (hence FIBA), in 1989 it dropped the word ''amateur'' from its na ...

Europe Cup Defender of the Year in 2004. He also played a season in the

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA) (originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association) was a men's professional basketball m ...

for the

Yakama Sun Kings The Yakima SunKings are a basketball team located in Yakima, Washington, covering the central Washington sports market of Yakima, Tri-Cities, and Ellensburg and plays at the Yakima SunDome. The team competed in the Continental Basketball Associ ...

, winning a league championship and earning All-Defensive Team honors in 2003.

Coaching career

In 2007, Jensen left professional basketball to become an assistant coach for his mentor, Rick Majerus, as a member of his new staff at Saint Louis. Jensen remained on Majerus' staff for four seasons, until he was offered the job as the first head coach of the Canton Charge of the NBA Development League. Jensen was named the NBA D-League's Coach of the Year for 2013 in just his second season. On July 23, 2013, Jensen was added to the

coaching staff to work as a player development assistant. Two years later, on June 26, 2015, he joined Chris Fleming's staff as an assistant for the Germany national team. In August 2022, Jensen led the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

as head coach for the

2022 FIBA AmeriCup The 2022 FIBA AmeriCup was the 19th edition of the FIBA AmeriCup, the main tournament for senior men's basketball national teams of the FIBA Americas. The tournament was played in Recife, Brazil, as Brasília was dropped as a second host city mont ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jensen, Alex 1976 births Living people 20th-century Mormon missionaries American expatriate basketball people in Germany American expatriate basketball people in Japan American expatriate basketball people in Spain American expatriate basketball people in Turkey American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players American Mormon missionaries in England Basketball coaches from Utah Basketball players from Utah Canton Charge coaches CB Girona players Darüşşafaka Basketbol players Latter Day Saints from Utah Liga ACB players Nagoya Diamond Dolphins players People from Centerville, Utah Saint Louis Billikens men's basketball coaches Small forwards TED Ankara Kolejliler players Tuborg Pilsener basketball players Türk Telekom B.K. players Utah Jazz assistant coaches Utah Utes men's basketball players Yakima Sun Kings players