Giorgi Bezhanishvili (born November 16, 1998) is an Austrian-Georgian 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 the

College Park Skyhawks The College Park Skyhawks are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in College Park, Georgia, and are affiliated with the Atlanta Hawks. The Skyhawks play their home games at Gateway Center Arena at College Park a ...

of the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...

. 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

Illinois Fighting Illini The Illinois Fighting Illini () are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The university offers 10 men's and 11 women's varsity sports. The University operates a number of athletic faci ...

Early life

Bezhanishvili was born in

Rustavi Rustavi ( ka, რუსთავი ) is a city in the southeast of Georgia, in the region of Kvemo Kartli and southeast of capital Tbilisi. It has a population of 130,100 (2021), making it the fourth most populous city in Georgia. Its economy is ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

on November 16, 1998. In 2002, Bezhanishvili's mother Lali emigrated to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

by way of

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

in search of work due to economic hardships in Georgia that resulted from the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

. As a result, when Bezhanishvili was 3 he and his older brother Davit moved in with their grandparents. As a child, Bezhanishvili's hobbies included basketball and dancing. At the age of 10, he placed second in classical dance in a national competition. When he was 14, Bezhanishvili moved to Vienna to be with his mother. In 2016, Bezhanishvili became a naturalized citizen of Austria. Bezhanishvili has learned to speak

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

, and

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

Youth career

After moving to Vienna, Bezhanishvili played in the youth system for the Basket Flames. From 2014–2016 he played for the men's senior Basket Flames team that competes in the 2. Österreichische Basketball Bundesliga which is the second tier of basketball in Austria. During the 2016–2017 season, Bezhanishvili played for the

Klosterneuburg Dukes Klosterneuburg Dukes is an Austrian professional basketball club based in Klosterneuburg. With a total of 10 national titles, Klosterneuburg is one of the most successful teams in Austria. History In 1952, the team was founded as a part of the as ...

of the

Austrian Basketball League The Austrian Basketball Bundesliga (in German: Österreichische Basketball Bundesliga) was the top men's professional basketball league in Austria.O ...

and was teammates with former Lehigh player Michael Ojo. Ojo got Bezhanishvili connected with American basketball coaches which resulted in a scholarship to attend

The Patrick School The Patrick School is an independent private co-educational four-year high school in Hillside in Union County, New Jersey, United States. The school was established in 2012 following the closure of St. Patrick High School Academy, which was ...

Elizabeth, New Jersey Elizabeth is a city and the county seat of Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.New J ...

. With Klosterneuburg, Bezhanishvili averaged 6.2 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists.

Recruiting

During his senior year of high school at

, Bezhanishvili received a scholarship offer from the University of Illinois and committed to play

for head coach

Brad Underwood Bradley Cole Underwood (born December 14, 1963) is the current head coach for the Illinois men's basketball team. Previously, he served as head coach at Oklahoma State, Stephen F. Austin, Dodge City Community College, and Daytona Beach Community ...

after his official visit on March 26, 2018. Bezhanishvili also had considered scholarship offers from

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

Seton Hall Seton Hall University (SHU) is a private Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesa ...

, and St. Bonaventure.

College career

As a freshman, Bezhanishvili averaged 12.5 points on 54.2 percent shooting while averaging 5.2 rebounds per game. He set Illinois' freshman scoring record with 35 points against

Rutgers Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was a ...

. Bezhanishvili went through a slump midway through his sophomore season in which he shot 27 percent over nine games and came off the bench behind

Kofi Cockburn Kofi Cockburn ( ; born 1 September 1999) is a Jamaican professional basketball player who currently plays for Niigata Albirex of the Japanese B. League. He played college basketball for the Illinois Fighting Illini. Early life Cockburn was born i ...

. He averaged 6.8 points and 4.8 rebounds per game as a sophomore. As a junior, he averaged 5.1 points and 2.7 rebounds per game. Following the season, Bezhanishvili declared for the

2021 NBA draft The 2021 NBA draft, the 75th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on July 29, 2021, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. With the first overall pick, the Detroit Pistons selected Cade Cunningham. The NBA us ...

Professional career

After going undrafted in the

, Bezhanishvili joined the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team was founded as the D ...

for NBA Summer League play. On September 13, 2021, he signed an Exhibit 10 deal with the Nuggets. Bezhanishvili joined the

Grand Rapids Gold The Grand Rapids Gold are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and are affiliated with the Denver Nuggets. The Gold play their home games at Van Andel Arena. They began play as the Anaheim ...

as an affiliate player.

College Park Skyhawks (2022–present)

On August 25, 2022, Bezhanishvili was traded to the

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, 33 , , 33 , , 26.1 , , .542 , , .167 , , .657 , , 5.2 , , .8 , , .7 , , .8 , , 12.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 24 , , 23.2 , , .429 , , .306 , , .596 , , 4.8 , , 1.6 , , .1 , , .4 , , 6.8 , - , 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;",

, 31 , , 0 , , 14.5 , , .545 , , .500 , , .629 , , 2.7 , , .4 , , .2 , , .3 , , 5.1 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 95 , , 57 , , 21.4 , , .507 , , .264 , , .636 , , 4.3 , , .9 , , .3 , , .5 , , 8.2

References

External links

Illinois Fighting Illini bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bezhanishvili, Giorgi 1998 births Living people Austrian men's basketball players Georgian emigrants to the United States Grand Rapids Gold players Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball players Men's basketball players from Georgia (country) Power forwards (basketball) Sportspeople from Vienna Xion Dukes Klosterneuburg players