Benjamin Chukwukelo Uzoh (born March 18, 1988) is a Nigerian-American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player who plays for Marinos of the

Venezuelan SuperLiga The Superliga Profesional de Baloncesto, commonly known as the SPB, is the Venezuelan first division national professional basketball league. Founded in 1974 as the Liga Especial de Baloncesto, it adopted the name Liga Profesional de Baloncesto i ...

. He also plays internationally for . Standing at , Uzoh has played in the NBA for the

New Jersey Nets New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

and

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. They play their home games a ...

College career

Uzoh played for the

Tulsa Golden Hurricane The Golden Hurricane are the athletic teams that represent the University of Tulsa. These teams are referred to as the Tulsa Golden Hurricane (or variously as TU or Tulsa). Before adopting the name Golden Hurricane in 1922, the University of Tu ...

over his four-year

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 ...

career. 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

In the summer of 2010, Uzoh earned Portsmouth Invitational Tournament All Third Team. After going undrafted in the

2010 NBA Draft The 2010 NBA draft was held on June 24, 2010, at the Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The draft, which started at 7:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time (2300 UTC), was broadcast in the United States on ESPN. In this draft, National ...

, Uzoh signed a partially guaranteed contract with the

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, 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 i ...

. 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 Springfield may refer to: * Springfield (toponym), the place name in general Places and locations Australia * Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast) * Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council) * Springfield, Queensl ...

of the

NBA D-League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA Dev ...

, during the month of March 2011. In October 2011, he signed a one-year contract with Lokomotiv Kuban of the Russian League, but was released after playing just two games. On March 27, 2012, he signed a 10-day contract with the

of the

. 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 In basketball, a double-double is a single-game performance in which a player accumulates ten or more in two of the following five statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. The first "double" in the term ...

on April 26, against the Nets, the first by a Raptor in eleven years. Uzoh joined the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team was founded as the D ...

for their training camp in October 2012, but did not make the team's final roster. He was then acquired by the D-League team the

Rio Grande Valley Vipers The Rio Grande Valley Vipers are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in Edinburg, Texas, and are affiliated with the Houston Rockets. The Vipers play their home games at the Bert Ogden Arena. The Vipers have won fo ...

. However, on November 5, 2012, Uzoh was traded to the Armor for Tim Ohlbrecht. On October 31, 2013, Uzoh was acquired by the

Tulsa 66ers Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

in a trade involving the Iowa Energy and the Springfield Armor. On January 22, 2014, he was traded to the Canton Charge. On March 21, 2014, he was waived by the Charge due to a season-ending injury. Ben Uzoh went to Nigeria in 2015 where he signed on to play for the Lagos Islanders. On March 12, 2017, Uzoh signed with Belgian club

Okapi Aalstar Okapi Aalst is a Belgian professional basketball club from Aalst, Belgium. The club competes in the top tier BNXT League and plays its home games in the Okapi Forum, which has a seating capacity of 2,800 people. Okapi is a long-time participant ...

for the rest of the 2016–17 season. On February 10, 2018, he signed with Caballeros de Culiacan of the CIBACOPA league in Mexico. On November 24, 2019, Uzoh signed with

Paris Basketball Paris Basketball is a French professional basketball club based in Paris. The club currently plays in the LNB Pro A, the first division of basketball in France, and the EuroCup. The club was founded in 2018 by David Kahn and Eric Schwartz. T ...

of the

LNB Pro B The LNB Pro B, commonly known as Pro B, is the 2nd-tier level men's professional basketball league in France. It is the second division of the Ligue Nationale de Basket (LNB), which has organized the league since the year 1987. The regular season ...

. On January 20, 2020,

and Uzoh jointly decided not to continue their collaboration. In April 2021, Uzoh signed with the Nigerian team

Rivers Hoopers Rivers Hoopers is a Nigerian basketball team based in Port Harcourt, Rivers. The team plays in the Nigerian Premier League. Established in 2009 as Royal Hoopers, the team has played in the Premier League since its inception. Hoopers have won the n ...

to play in the inaugural season of the

Basketball Africa League The Basketball Africa League (BAL) is Africa's premier men's basketball league. The league consists of twelve teams, each qualified through their domestic competition, similar to the format of the UEFA Champions League. The league is a joint eff ...

(BAL). He scored the first-ever points in the BAL in the season opener against

Patriots BBC Patriots Basketball Club, also known as simply Patriots, is a basketball club based in Kigali, Rwanda. Established in 2014, it plays its home games at Amahoro Indoor Stadium. The team is a four-time champion of the Rwanda Basketball League (RBL). ...

. He also became the first ex- NBA player to play in the newly established competition. 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 Cape Town Tigers is a South African basketball club based in Cape Town. The team is located in the Gugulethu township. Established in 2019 by three American business partners, the club has won the South African national championship in 2021 and 2 ...

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. On July 4, 2022, he signed with Marinos of the

National team career

Uzoh has played for the

Nigerian national basketball team The Nigeria national basketball team represents Nigeria in men's international basketball and it is overseen by the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF). In March 2021, the global governing body FIBA ranked Nigeria as Africa's top men's basket ...

at the

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

, 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.

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

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Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along ...

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Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

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BAL

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References

External links

Ben Uzoh
at NBA.com
Ben Uzoh
at USBasket.com
Ben Uzoh
at ESPN.com

at Tulsa Golden Hurricanes website {{DEFAULTSORT:Uzoh, Ben 1988 births Living people 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup players African-American basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Belgium American expatriate basketball people in Canada American expatriate basketball people in Russia American men's basketball players American sportspeople of Nigerian descent Basketball players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Basketball players from Houston Canton Charge players Cape Town Tigers players Cleveland Cavaliers players New Jersey Nets players Nigerian expatriate basketball people in Canada Nigerian expatriate basketball people in Russia Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Nigerian men's basketball players Okapi Aalstar players Olympic basketball players of Nigeria PBC Lokomotiv-Kuban players Point guards Rio Grande Valley Vipers players Rivers Hoopers players Basketball players from San Antonio Springfield Armor players Toronto Raptors players Tulsa 66ers players Tulsa Golden Hurricane men's basketball players Undrafted National Basketball Association players 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American people Marinos B.B.C. players