Uzodinma Utomi (born March 7, 1997), better known as Daniel Utomi, is an American-born NigerianD’Tigers FIBA Afrobasket final roster released
TODAY.ng, 19 August 2021. Accessed 26 August. 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 for Kolossos Rodou of the

Greek Basket League The Greek Basket League (GBL), often also referred to as the Greek A1 Basketball League, or Greek Basketball Championship (originally called Panhellenic Basketball Championship), and also known as the Stoiximan Basket League for sponsorship reaso ...

. He played college basketball for

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

and

Akron Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city prop ...

High school career

Utomi attended Westside High School in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

. As a junior, he was named to the First-Team All-District. Utomi averaged 27 points and 14 rebounds per game as a junior, shooting 46 percent from three-point range. He garnered District Most Valuable Player honors after helping lead the Wolves to a 21-9 record and a spot in the regional tournament last season. In April 2015, Utomi committed to play college basketball at

College career

After playing in two games as a true freshman, Utomi suffered a foot injury and was forced to redshirt the season. Utomi averaged 4.8 points and 1.2 rebounds per game as a redshirt freshman. He took on a leadership role during his redshirt sophomore season due to the departure of much of the team as well as coach

Keith Dambrot Keith Brett Dambrot (born October 26, 1958) is an American college basketball coach and the current men's basketball head coach of Duquesne University. During his high school head coaching career, he coached future NBA star LeBron James for two y ...

. On November 18, 2017, Utomi scored a career-high 32 points and made a career-high seven three-pointers in a 76-59 win against UT Martin. As a redshirt sophomore, he averaged 16.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game, shooting 40.6 percent from behind the arc. Utomi led Akron in scoring as a redshirt junior with 14.2 points per game while also averaging 5.5 rebounds 5.5 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game, earning Honorable Mention All-

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...

recognition. Following the season, he decided to transfer to

as a graduate transfer, choosing the Trojans over

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

, and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. Utomi was ranked the 23rd best graduate transfer according to

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

. On February 15, 2020, he scored a season-high 23 points in a 70-51 victory over

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

. As a senior, Utomi averaged 8.2 points and 3.8 rebounds per game.

Professional career

On July 18, 2020, Utomi signed with Kauhajoki Karhu of the Finnish

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 ...

. In his debut on October 13, he scored 25 points in an 84-82 loss to

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 ...

. Utomi averaged 12.6 points per game shooting 53.7 percent from three-point range. He bought out of his contract on December 4. On February 22, 2021, Utomi signed with

JA Vichy-Clermont Métropole Basket JA Vichy-Clermont Métropole Basket is a French professional basketball club based in Clermont. The team currently plays in the Pro B, the second highest professional division in France. The club was formed in 2015 after a merger of JA Vichy and ...

of the French

LNB Pro B The LNB Pro B, commonly known as Pro B, is the French basketball league system, 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 t ...

. He averaged 11.9 points and 3 rebounds per game. On September 11, 2021, Utomi signed with

Pistoia Basket 2000 A.S. Pistoia Basket 2000, known for sponsorship reasons as OriOra Pistoia, is an Italian professional basketball team based in Pistoia, Tuscany. History The city of Pistoia was formerly represented in the first division LBA by Olimpia Basket Pist ...

of the

Serie A2 Basket Serie A2, known for sponsorship reasons as Serie A2 Old Wild West, is a men's basketball league in Italy. It constitutes the second-tier of the Italian league pyramid, below the first division LBA and above the third division Serie B, with pro ...

. Utomi spent the 2022-2023 season with Italian club Umana Chiusi, where he averaged 15.1 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 28 games. On July 11, 2023, Utomi signed with Greek club Kolossos Rodou.

Nigeria national team

He has been part of Nigeria's national team at the

AfroBasket 2021 FIBA AfroBasket 2021 was the 30th edition of the FIBA AfroBasket, a men's basketball continental championship of Africa. The tournament was hosted by Rwanda for the first time. It was originally scheduled to take place between 17 and 29 August 2 ...

Kigali Kigali () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is near the nation's geographic centre in a region of rolling hills, with a series of valleys and ridges joined by steep slopes. As a primate city, Kigali has been Rwa ...

, Rwanda.

References

External links

Akron Zips bioUSC Trojans bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Utomi, Daniel 1997 births Living people American men's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Finland American expatriate basketball people in France American expatriate basketball people in Greece American expatriate basketball people in Italy Basketball players from Houston Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Finland Nigerian expatriate basketball people in France Nigerian expatriate basketball people in Italy Nigerian expatriate basketball people in Greece Nigerian men's basketball players Akron Zips men's basketball players USC Trojans men's basketball players Kauhajoen Karhu players Small forwards