Zwencyl DeVonte Upson (born March 23, 1993) is an American basketball player for Hapoel Haifa in the

Israeli Basketball Premier League Ligat HaAl ( he, ליגת העל, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is the top-tier level league of professional sports, professional competition in Israeli sports club, club basketball, making ...

. He plays the center position. He played college basketball for

Trinidad State College Trinidad State College is a public community college in Trinidad, Colorado. It was founded in 1925, making it the first community college in the state of Colorado. Trinidad State operates a satellite campus in the nearby city of Alamosa, Color ...

and Southeastern Louisiana University.

Early life

Upson was born in

Augusta, Georgia Augusta ( ), officially Augusta–Richmond County, is a consolidated city-county on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The city lies across the Savannah River from South Carolina at the head of its navig ...

, to Zwencyl Upson and Lelinda Parksand, and lived in

Amarillo, Texas Amarillo ( ; Spanish for "yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Potter County. It is the 14th-most populous city in Texas and the largest city in the Texas Panhandle. A portion of the city extends into Randall County ...

. He is tall, and weighs . He attended Harrison High School ('11) in

Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

. Playing basketball for the high school as a senior, Upson averaged 11.4 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 4.4 blocks per game.

College career

In 2011-13, Upson attended and played basketball at

. In his freshman season, he averaged 9.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks per game, shooting 61.8% from the field. In his sophomore year, he averaged 10.8 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks (2nd in NJCAA Region IX) per game. In 2013-15, he attended and played basketball at Southeastern Louisiana University ('15). In 2013-14, Upson averaged 8.3 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 1.7 blocked shots per game. In 2015, he averaged 10.8 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks per game and was All-

Southland Conference The Southland Conference, abbreviated as SLC, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States (specifically Texas and Louisiana). It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it pa ...

Honorable Mention.

Professional career

In 2015-16, Upson played for Starwings Basket Regio Basel of Switzerland's LNA. He averaged 14.6 points, 9.6 rebounds (3rd in the LNA) and 1.0 blocks (3rd) per game. In 2016-17, he played for

Helsinki Seagulls Helsinki Seagulls is a professional basketball team, based in Helsinki, Finland. The club is playing in the Korisliiga, the highest tier of basketball in Finland. The Seagulls were founded in 2013 and made its debut in the Korisliiga in 2014, aft ...

of Finland's

Korisliiga The Korisliiga is the top-tier professional basketball league in Finland, comprising the top 12 teams of the country. In its current format, each team plays all other teams two times in the regular season, once at home and once away, for a total o ...

. He averaged 19.6 points and 0.9 blocks (5th in the league) per game. In 2017-18, he played for Rapla BS of Estonia's Korvpalli Meistriliiga. Upson averaged 10.9 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks (2nd in the league) per game. In June 2018, he was signed by the

Beijing Bucks The Beijing Bucks are a China, Chinese professional men's basketball club based in Beijing, playing in the National Basketball League (China) (NBL). Since 2018 the team has been owned by the CITIC Guoan Group. Current roster No ...

in the Chinese National Basketball League. Playing for them, he averaged 18 points, 14 rebounds, and 2.4 blocks per game. In 2018-19, Upson played for Polski Cukier Pszczolka Start Lublin of the Polish Basketball League, averaging 9.7 points, 6.4 rebounds (5th in the league), and 1.1 blocks (2nd) per game. In 2019, he played for

Comunicaciones Mercedes Club Comunicaciones (Mercedes) is an Argentine sports club located in Mercedes, Corrientes. It is best known for its basketball team, which currently plays in the Liga Nacional de Básquet (LNB), the top division of the Argentine league system. ...

of Argentina's

Liga Liga or LIGA may refer to: People * Līga (name), a Latvian female given name * Luciano Ligabue, more commonly known as Ligabue or ''Liga'', Italian rock singer-songwriter Sports * Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain * Liga ...

, averaging 5.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 0.9 blocks per game. In 2019-20, he played for Asseco Arka Gdynia of the Polish Basketball League, averaging 7.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.0 blocks per game. In 2020, Upson played one game for

Strasbourg IG Strasbourg Illkirch-Graffenstaden Basket, most commonly known as SIG Basket or SIG Strasbourg, is a French professional basketball club that is based in Strasbourg. The club, founded in 1929, competes domestically in the French Pro A League, and ...

of France's Jeep Elite, before the pandemic ended the season. In 2020-21, he played for

Pallacanestro Trieste 2004 Pallacanestro Trieste 2004 is an Italian professional basketball club based in Trieste. They play in the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) since the 2018–19 season. The Allianz Dome serves as the club's home arena. History A number of Trieste teams ...

of Italy's Lega Basket Serie A, and averaged 7.1 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 0.4 blocks per game. In 2021-22, he played for

Merkezefendi Belediyesi Denizli Basket Merkezefendi Belediyesi Denizli Basket, due to current sponsorship Yukatel Merkezefendi, is a Turkish professional basketball club based in Denizli. The team is currently playing in the Basketball Super League. Their home arena is the Pamukkale Uni ...

of Turkey's Basketbol Süper Ligi. He averaged 8.8 points, 6.8 rebounds (9th in the league), and 0.8 blocks (6th) per game, while shooting 68% from the field. In 2022-23, Upson plays for Hapoel Haifa of the

References

External links