Eli James Brooks (born October 14, 1998) 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 court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player for

Pallacanestro Trieste 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 h ...

of the Italian

Lega Basket Serie A The Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) is a professional men's club basketball league that has been organised in Italy since 1920. Serie A is organised by Lega Basket, which is regulated by the Italian Basketball Federation (FIP). It is the highest-tier ...

(LBA). He played

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 ...

for the Michigan Wolverines.

High school career

Brooks attended

Spring Grove Area High School Spring Grove Area High School is one of two, public secondary schools within the Spring Grove Area School District. The School is located in Spring Grove, York County, Pennsylvania, United States. Athletics The School provides the following spor ...

in Spring Grove, Pennsylvania, where he was coached by his father. He played AAU Basketball for the Jersey Shore Warriors. Brooks averaged 20.1 points per game as a sophomore and led YAIAA guards in rebounding. He averaged 24.7 points, 7.6 rebounds, 3.8 steals and 2.3 assists per game as a junior, leading Spring Grove to its first state tournament appearance in school history. As a senior, Brooks averaged 29.7 points, 12 rebounds, and four assists per game. He led the Rockets to a 22–9 record, helping the team to a quarterfinal berth in the PIAA Class 5-A playoffs. Brooks was named to the Class 5-A First Team All-State and was a finalist for Pennsylvania Mr. Basketball. He finished his career with 2,426 points. On July 19, 2016, Brooks committed to Michigan over offers such as defending national champion Villanova,

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

N.C. State North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest u ...

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

and

Kansas State Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

College career

Brooks started 12 games as a freshman. He averaged 1.8 points, 1.1 rebounds and one assist per game. As a sophomore, he averaged 2.5 points, 1.2 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game. Following his sophomore season, Brooks considered transferring due to the departure of coach

John Beilein John Patrick Beilein ( ; born February 5, 1953) is an American professional basketball coach who currently serves as the Senior Player Development Advisor for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Before being hired b ...

. On January 17, 2020, Brooks scored a career-high 25 points in a 90–83 loss to

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

. On February 27, he missed a game against

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

due to a nose injury suffered several days prior. As a junior, Brooks averaged 10.6 points, 3.7 rebounds, and two assists per game. Teammate

Isaiah Livers Isaiah Maurice Livers (born July 28, 1998) is an American professional basketball player for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Michigan Wolverines. He attended Kalamazoo Centr ...

called Brooks a "silent assassin," as he was known for leading by example. In the 202021 season, he averaged 9.5 points, 3.1 assists and 1.1 steals per game while shooting 39.6 percent from beyond the arc. His team reached the Elite Eight in the NCAA tournament. During the tournament, he was undecided on whether to come back for a fifth season or not due to the NCAA allowing seniors a one-time exemption to eligibility rules. Eventually, he decided to come back and play for one more season. Brooks was named Honorable Mention All-Big Ten by the media during his fifth season. With the COVID-19 exception, Brooks was able to play a fifth year and finished his career with a school record 158 games played. Brooks surpassed Simpson (146) for the record.

Professional career

Fort Wayne Mad Ants (2022–2023)

On June 24, 2022, Brooks signed an exhibit-10 contract with the Indiana Pacers of the NBA. However, he was waived on October 15. On October 24, he signed with the

Fort Wayne Mad Ants The Fort Wayne Mad Ants are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and are affiliated with the Indiana Pacers. The team plays their home games at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum. The Mad ...

Pallacanestro Trieste (2023–present)

On July 27, 2023, Brooks signed with

of the Italian

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

, 31 , , 12 , , 10.0 , , .302 , , .244 , , .615 , , 1.1 , , 1.0 , , .4 , , .1 , , 1.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, 37 , , 0 , , 12.9 , , .378 , , .292 , , .750 , , 1.2 , , 1.1 , , .3 , , .1 , , 2.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 30 , , 30 , , 32.0 , , .410 , , .364 , , .729 , , 3.7 , , 2.0 , , .8 , , .2 , , 10.6 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

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

, 27 , , 27 , , 31.1 , , .426 , , .396 , , .909 , , 3.1 , , 3.1 , , 1.1 , , .2 , , 9.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

, 34 , , 34 , , 36.0 , , .444 , , .394 , , .877 , , 3.7 , , 2.9 , , 1.2 , , .1 , , 12.8 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 159 , , 103 , , 24.0 , , .415 , , .362 , , .826 , , 2.5 , , 2.0 , , .7 , , .1 , , 7.3

Personal life

Brooks is the son of Kelly and James Brooks. He has a tattoo of Buddha on his left shoulder, as he studied Buddhism and practices meditation.

References

External links

Michigan Wolverines bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brooks, Eli 1998 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Italy American men's basketball players Basketball players from Pennsylvania Fort Wayne Mad Ants players Lega Basket Serie A players Michigan Wolverines men's basketball players Point guards Sportspeople from York County, Pennsylvania