Bohdan Olexandrovich Blyzniuk (ukr. Богдан Оlexandrovich Близнюк; born March 31, 1995) is a Ukrainian basketball player who last played for

Cholet Basket Cholet Basket is a professional basketball club that is based in Cholet, France. The club plays in the French League. Their home arena is La Meilleraie. Established in 1975, Cholet won its first French championship in the 2009–10 season. In 19 ...

of the French

LNB Pro A The LNB Pro A, currently known for sponsorship reasons as Betclic Élite, is the top-tier men's professional basketball league in France. The competition has existed since 1921. Since 1987, the Ligue Nationale de Basket has governed the league. ...

. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

Eastern Washington Eagles The Eastern Washington Eagles are the intercollegiate varsity athletic teams that represent Eastern Washington University, located in Cheney, southwest of Spokane. A member of the Big Sky Conference, EWU's athletic program comprises five men's ...

, where he was named Big Sky Conference Player of the Year in 2018.

Early life

Blyzniuk was born in

Lutsk Lutsk ( uk, Луцьк, translit=Lutsk}, ; pl, Łuck ; yi, לוצק, Lutzk) is a city on the Styr River in northwestern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Volyn Oblast (province) and the administrative center of the surrounding Luts ...

, Ukraine. He was less than 2 years old when his father, a truck driver, died in an accident. Their mother moved them to

Federal Way, Washington Federal Way is a city in King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington, United States. One of the most recently incorporated cities in the county, its population was 101,030 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Fe ...

five years later to be closer to family. His older brother, Dmytro, and his mother, Liudmyla, helped raise Bohdan, while also caring for his grandmother. Blyzniuk became a U.S. citizen in February 2016.

College career

Blyzniuk played college basketball for the

Eastern Washington University Eastern Washington University (EWU) is a public university in Cheney, Washington. It also offers programs at a campus in EWU Spokane at the Riverpoint Campus and other campus locations throughout the state. Founded in 1882, the university is ...

Eagles Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

. On March 9, 2018, Blyzniuk became the

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference (BSC) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I with football competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. Member institutions are located in the western United States in the eigh ...

’s all-time leading scorer, passing Orlando Lightfoot’s mark of 2,102 set in 1994. Earlier in the season, Bliznyuk claimed the school all-time scoring mark, passing

Venky Jois Venkatesha "Venky" Jois (born 7 July 1993) is an Australian professional basketball player for the Helios Suns of the Slovenian League. He played four years of college basketball for Eastern Washington before playing professionally in Estonia, ...

’ total of 1,803. Bliznyuk's conference career scoring mark stood until the following season, when

Montana State Montana State University (MSU) is a public land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's largest university. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's degrees in 68 fields, and doctoral degrees in 35 fiel ...

's Tyler Hall broke it. Bohdan finished his senior year averaging 21.1 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game. He was named Big Sky Conference Player of the Year and AP Honorable Mention.

Professional career

After going undrafted in the

2018 NBA draft The 2018 NBA Draft was held on June 21, 2018, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur United States college basketball players and other eligible players, including inte ...

, Blyzniuk joined the

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division in the league's Western Conference. The Clipper ...

for the

2018 NBA Summer League The 2018 NBA Summer League consisted of three pro basketball leagues organized by the National Basketball Association (NBA): the Sacramento Kings's California Classic Summer League, Utah Jazz Summer League, and Las Vegas Summer League. The Sacra ...

. On July 5, 2018, Blyzniuk started his professional career with

Bnei Herzliya Bnei Herzliya Basket (, lit. ''Sons of Herzliya''), is a professional basketball club that is based in Herzliya, in the Sharon district in Israel. The club plays in the Israeli Basketball Premier League, the top division of Israeli basketball. It ...

of the

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League ( he, ליגת העל, ''Ligat Ha`Al'', ), is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Israeli Football League – the state's league of Israel. The league is contested b ...

, signing a three-year deal. On January 21, 2019, Bohdan recorded a season-high 18 points, shooting 7-of-13 from the field, in an 81–100 loss to Hapoel Eilat. That season,

have finished the season in the last place out of 12 teams and was relegated to the

Israeli National League Liga Leumit ( he, ליגה לאומית, lit. ''National League'') is the second division of the Israeli Football League, and below its Premier League. Structure There are 16 clubs in the league. At the end of each season, the two lowest-place ...

(the second-tier league in Israel). On September 30, 2019, Blyzniuk signed with

Kyiv-Basket ) , leagues = , conference = , division = , founded = 1992 (reestablished in 2017) , dissolved = 1998 , history = , arena = Palace of Sports , capacity = 7,000 , location ...

of the Ukrainian SuperLeague. During the 2020–21 season, he averaged 12.4 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game. On September 16, 2021, Bohdan signed with

BC Budivelnyk BC Budivelnyk Kyiv (in Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Будівельник Київ) is a Ukraine, Ukrainian professional basketball club based in Kyiv. The club plays in the Ukrainian Basketball SuperLeague. In June 2018, it was forced to withdr ...

. In the 2022-23 season, he signs for BC Budivelnyk to play in the FIBA Europe Cup (playing at home in Italy) and the Balkan League. On March 22, 2023, he signed with

of the French

National team career

Blyzniuk is a member of the Ukraine national team. On November 29, 2018, he made his debut in an 82–54 win over

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

, scoring 11 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2014–15 , style="text-align:left;",

Eastern Washington Eastern Washington is the region of the U.S. state of Washington located east of the Cascade Range. It contains the city of Spokane (the second largest city in the state), the Tri-Cities, the Columbia River and the Grand Coulee Dam, the Hanfor ...

, 35 , , 0 , , 19.0 , , .586 , , .558 , , .792 , , 4.0 , , 1.1 , , 0.5 , , 0.4 , , 8.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2015–16 , style="text-align:left;",

, 34 , , 32 , , 33.0 , , .447 , , .355 , , .798 , , 6.7 , , 3.0 , , 1.2 , , 0.7 , , 12.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;",

, 34 , , 33 , , 36.8 , , .474 , , .317 , , .821 , , 6.5 , , 4.0 , , 1.0 , , 0.2 , , 20.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

, 35 , , 35 , , 35.1 , , .528 , , .398 , , .902 , , 6.8 , , 3.9 , , 0.8 , , 0.2 , , 21.1 , - , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2" , Career , 138 , , 100 , , 30.9 , , .500 , , .378 , , .840 , , 6.0 , , 3.0 , , 0.9 , , 0.4 , , 15.7 Source
RealGM
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References

External links

Eastern Washington Eagles bioRealGM profileFIBA profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blyzniuk, Bohdan 1995 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Israel BC Budivelnyk players Bnei Herzliya basketball players Cholet Basket players Eastern Washington Eagles men's basketball players Kyiv-Basket players Naturalized citizens of the United States Shooting guards Small forwards Sportspeople from Lutsk Sportspeople from Volyn Oblast Ukrainian emigrants to the United States Ukrainian expatriate basketball people in the United States Ukrainian expatriate sportspeople in Israel Ukrainian men's basketball players