Darius Paul (born April 8, 1994) is an American professional basketball player for the

Albany Patroons The Albany Patroons are a professional basketball team that plays in The Basketball League (TBL). Previously, the team competed in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) and in the United States Basketball League (USBL). The Patroons won ...

North American Premier Basketball The Basketball League (TBL), formerly North America Premier Basketball (NAPB), is a minor league basketball organization. The league began operating in North America in 2018 with eight teams, and expanded to over 44 teams as of 2022. The Bas ...

Collegiately, he played for Robert Morris University in the NAIA, for Western Michigan University in the National Collegiate Athletic Association and was a member of the University of Illinois basketball team, but never appeared in a game.

High school career

Paul played for Warren Township High School. As a high school senior, Paul was named a member of the 2012 Illinois All-State Team as selected by the Associated Press, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times,

News-Gazette ''The News-Gazette'' may refer to: * ''The News-Gazette'' (Champaign–Urbana), a daily newspaper serving the Champaign–Urbana Metropolitan Area and Danville, Illinois * ''The News-Gazette'' (Winchester, Indiana), a daily newspaper based in Wi ...

, and the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association. Through his college recruitment, Paul received interest from Northwestern and Iowa and received scholarship offers from Bradley University, Detroit, IUPUI, Florida Gulf Coast, and Western Michigan. On November 25, 2011, Paul committed to play for

Steve Hawkins Stephen Greg Hawkins (born August 3, 1962) is an American college basketball coach and the former head Western Michigan Broncos men's basketball, men's basketball coach at Western Michigan University. He had previously served as the head coach ...

at Western Michigan.

College career

Freshman

Entering Western Michigan during the 2012–13 season, Paul quickly became a key contributor, as he started 33 of 35 games, averaging 10.5 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. Paul also led all Mid-American Conference freshman in scoring and rebounding, recording five

double-doubles 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 ...

throughout the season. He was named Mid-American Conference Freshman of the Year at the conclusion of the season.

Redshirt sophomore

After announcing his decision to transfer from Western Michigan, Paul announced via Twitter on May 4, 2013, that he would play for John Groce at Illinois, following in the footsteps of his older brother

Brandon Paul Brandon Stephan Paul (born April 30, 1991) is an American professional basketball player for Ratiopharm Ulm of the German Basketball Bundesliga (BBL), and the EuroCup. During his senior year at Warren Township High School, Paul was named Illinois ...

. Paul also had scholarship offers to Florida,

Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

, Marquette, Miami (Fl.), Missouri, Nebraska, and Nevada. Due to NCAA transfer rules, Paul was forced to sit out during the 2013–2014 season. During the season Paul only participated in practices and attended home games at the

State Farm Center The State Farm Center is a large dome-shaped 15,544-seat indoor arena located in Champaign, Illinois, owned and operated by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The arena hosts games for the Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball, ...

as an observer. In April 2014, Paul was suspended from the team after being arrested for underage drinking and after resisting arrest. .He pleased guilty to the drinking charge, the resisting arrest charge was dropped. He then went on to spend the 2014–15 season at junior college Lamar State.

Junior College

Paul recorded the fifth triple-double in Lamar State College–Port Arthur Seahawks history in a win over Victoria College, posting a line of 21 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists. During his junior college season, Paul was also named a top five junior college recruit by the

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. On November 12, 2014, Paul signed his National Letter of Intent to return to Illinois during the 2015–16 season as a redshirt junior. For the 2014–15 season, Paul led the Seahawks in points per game and rebounds per game, averaging a double-double for the majority of the season.

Back at Illinois

He returned to the University of Illinois for the 2015–16 season. During an exhibition tour in Deauville, France in August 2015, Paul was charged with vandalism, public intoxication and resisting arrest, he was sent home and later dismissed from the team.

Senior

Paul spent his senior year (2016–17) at Robert Morris University. Averaging 18.7 points, having made 43-of-91 from beyond the arc on the season, 7.9 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.1 blocked shots per game, he earned NAIA Division II All-American Honorable Mention Team honors.

College statistics

, - , style="text-align:left;",

2012–13 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 ...

, style="text-align:left;", Western Michigan , 35 , , 33 , , 24.8 , , .466 , , .227 , , .658 , , 5.7 , , 1.7 , , 0.5 , , 0.4 , , 10.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2013–14 , style="text-align:left;", Illinois , style="text-align:center;" colspan="11", Did not play due to NCAA transfer regulations , - , style="text-align:left;", 2014–15 , style="text-align:left;", Lamar State–Port Arthur , 22 , , 20 , , - , , .438 , , .280 , , .683 , , 9.1 , , 3.8 , , 1.5 , , 2.4 , , 17.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2015–16 , style="text-align:left;", Illinois , style="text-align:center;" colspan="11", Did not play - Dismissed from team , - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;", Robert Morris – Chicago , 29 , , 23 , , 26.5 , , .587 , , .473 , , .658 , , 7.9 , , 1.6 , , 1.0 , , 1.1 , , 18.7 , - Updated July 3, 2017

Professional basketball

Coming out of college, Paul signed with Petrolero Argentino of the Argentinian Liga Nacional de Básquet for the 2017–18 season, but was waived in November 2017. Led the

to a TBL Championship for the in 2019

The Basketball League The Basketball League (TBL), formerly North America Premier Basketball (NAPB), is a minor league basketball organization. The league began operating in North America in 2018 with eight teams, and expanded to over 44 teams as of 2022. The Bask ...

inaugural season. Also received the TBL "Most Valuable Player" honor

Personal

Paul is the son of Cliff Sr. and Lynda Paul and he has two brothers, Cliff Jr. and former Fighting Illini basketball player

. Brandon last played for the San Antonio Spurs of the

NBA 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 St ...

References

External links

Western Michigan Broncos bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paul, Darius 1994 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from Lake County, Illinois Junior college men's basketball players in the United States People from Gurnee, Illinois Power forwards Western Michigan Broncos men's basketball players