Darius Jamar "D. J." Covington (born August 5, 1991) is an 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 last played for

Phoenix Hagen Phoenix Hagen is a German professional basketball club that is based in Hagen, Germany. After withdrawing from the Basketball Bundesliga in November 2016, Phoenix Hagen re-launched its basketball team for the 2017-18 ProA season. The ProA is Germ ...

of the

Basketball Bundesliga The Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) (English language: ''Federal Basketball League''), for sponsorship reasons named easyCredit BBL, is the highest level league of professional club basketball in Germany. The league comprises 18 teams. A BBL season ...

. He finished his collegiate career with the VMI Keydets basketball team, also finishing as the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

's 24th leading scorer in his senior year and won the

Big South The Big South Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I. Originally a non-football conference, the Big South began sponsoring football in 2002 as part of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Th ...

's Defensive Player of the Year in 2013 and 2014.

High school career

Covington attended

Norfolk Academy Norfolk Academy (NA) is an independent co-educational day school in Norfolk, Virginia. Chartered in 1728, it is the oldest private school in Virginia and the eighth oldest school in the United States. In 1966, Norfolk Academy merged with Country D ...

from 2006 to 2010. In his junior season, he averaged 15 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks per game. He followed that up in his senior year with 18 points, 11 rebounds and 3 blocks per game. Covington was named to the first-team All-Tidewater Conference Independent Schools as well as All-Virginia Prep League three times.D.J. Covington Bio
/ref> He also played on the school's football team at wide receiver.

College career

Covington made an impression in his freshman year for VMI in

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, averaging 9.1 points and 5.3 rebounds per game, as well as 57 shot blocks en route to a Big South Freshman of the Year award. He was also dubbed the top Division I freshman in the state of Virginia. Covington struggled in his sophomore campaign, playing in only 24 of the Keydets' 33 as he was hampered with a back injury. Covington managed to heat up towards the end of the year, shooting 68% from the field in the conference tournament. He ended up averaging only 5 points and 2.7 rebounds per game, which were both career lows. Covington was much improved his junior season, and his 7.2 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game helped him earn his first Big South Defensive Player of the Year award. He was also effective on the offensive end, scoring 15 points per game, and his 56% shooting percentage led the conference. Covington continued his upward trend in his senior year. He averaged 20.1 points per game, good for 24th in the country, and pulled down 9.3 rebounds. He shot 59% from the floor and improved his free throw shooting as well, shooting 70% from the line. His 106 blocks gave him a career 272 rejections, which became a VMI career record. Covington beat out D. J. Cunningham of UNC Asheville by two points to earn his second straight Defensive Player of the Year award.

Professional career

2014–15 season

On May 19, 2014, Covington signed with

Basic-Fit Brussels Brussels Basketball, for sponsorship reasons known as Circus Brussels Basketball, is a professional basketball club based in Brussels, Belgium. The team plays in the BNXT League. Home games are played at the Sports Complex Neder-Over-Heembeek. Fou ...

for the 2014–15 Scooore League season. In December 2014, he parted ways with Brussels after appearing in eight games. On January 17, 2015, he signed with the Alaska Aces of the

Philippine Basketball Association The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of twelve company-branded franchised teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first professional basketball league in Asia and is the se ...

. However, he last just four games with Alaska before being replaced in the line-up by

Damion James Damion Marquez Williams James (born October 7, 1987) is an American former professional basketball player who last played for Vaqueros de Bayamón of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN). He played college basketball for Texas. High school car ...

on February 18. Nine days later, he signed with Nea Kifissia for the rest of the 2014–15 Greek Basket League season.

2015–16 season

On July 22, 2015, Covington signed with

of Germany for the 2015–16 season.DJ Covington signs with Phoenix Hagen
/ref>

References

External links

VMI bioEurobasket.com profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Covington, D. J. 1991 births Living people Alaska Aces (PBA) players American expatriate basketball people in Belgium American expatriate basketball people in the Philippines American men's basketball players Basketball players from Norfolk, Virginia Brussels Basketball players Centers (basketball) Nea Kifissia B.C. players Philippine Basketball Association imports Power forwards (basketball) Sportspeople from Virginia Beach, Virginia VMI Keydets basketball players