Halil Kanacević (; born October 23, 1991) is an American-born Montenegrin former 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 (appro ...

player. He played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

Saint Joseph's University Saint Joseph's University (SJU or St. Joe's) is a Private university, private Jesuits, Jesuit university in Philadelphia, Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, and Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The university was founded by the Jesuits, Society of J ...

, where he helped lead the team to the 2014 Atlantic 10 championship.

High school career

Kanacević attended and played basketball for Curtis High School. Although he excelled, Curtis was a chronically overlooked high school in basketball circles, and had the misfortune of barely missing chances to make long runs in New York high school basketball competition. Due to this, he was often overlooked in the recruiting process, although he received offers from University of Central Florida, Manhattan College, Quinnipiac, and Hofstra. He eventually committed to Hofstra.

College career

Kanacević originally committed to Hofstra, but after a season he decided in May 2010 to move to

. He made his

March Madness The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as March Madness, or The Big Dance, is a single-elimination tournament played in the United States to determine the men's college basketball national champion of the NCAA Division I, Di ...

debut in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, when St. Joseph's was eliminated by eventual tournament-winners

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

in the first round; he scored 12 points in St. Joseph's 81–89 loss. Counting his freshman season at Hofstra, Kanacević finished his collegiate career with 1,163 points, 1,028 rebounds, 407 assists and 202 blocked shots. At St. Joseph's, he was coached by

Phil Martelli Philip Martelli Sr. (born August 31, 1954) is an American college basketball coach, who was recently the associate head coach for the Michigan Wolverines men's basketball, Michigan Wolverines. As the former head coach of the Saint Joseph's Hawk ...

Professional career

Kanacević signed his first professional contract with Virtus Roma in April 2014. After only a few months, he terminated his contract with Roma and moved to KK Union Olimpija on a one-year deal. In July 2015, Kanacević joined the Washington Wizards in the NBA's 2015 Summer League. On August 27, 2015, it was announced that CAI Zaragoza of Spain signed Kanacević. On January 6, 2016, he parted ways with Zaragoza and one week later he signed with Montenegrin KK Budućnost for the rest of the season. On June 27, 2016, Kanacević signed with Israeli team Bnei Herzliya for the 2016–17 season. On June 7, 2017, Kanacević signed a one-year contract extension with Bnei Herzliya. However, on November 6, 2017, Kanacević was released by Herzliya after appearing in five games. In December 2017, he signed with Trikala Aries of the

Greek Basket League The Greek Basketball League (GBL), and also known as the Stoiximan Greek Basketball League (GBL) for sponsorship reasons, is the Greek basketball league system, first tier level professional basketball league in Greece. It is run by the ...

International career

In 2011, when Halil traveled back to visit his uncle Rizo Popović, he played for Montenegro's national men's U20 basketball team. He averaged almost 5 points and rebounds per game during the 2011 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship.

The Basketball Tournament

Halil Kanacevic played for Gael Nation in the 2018 edition of

The Basketball Tournament The Basketball Tournament (TBT) is an open-invitation, single-elimination tournament, single-elimination tournament played each summer in the United States, with the stakes being a cash prize (the most recent tournament in The Basketball Tournam ...

. In 2 games, he averaged 1 point, 1.5 assists, and 3.5 rebounds per game. Gael Nation reached the second round before falling to Armored Athlete.

Personal life

Kanacević was born in South Beach, Staten Island, New York to ethnic Albanian parents from Bar,

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

. His parents emigrated to the United States from SR Montenegro,

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

in the late 1980s.

References

External links

Profile at Sports ReferenceProfile at ABA LeagueProfile at Lega BasketProfile at Eurocup BasketballProfile at Union Olimpija
(in Slovenian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kanacevic, Halil 1991 births Living people ABA League players Montenegrin people of Albanian descent American men's basketball players American people of Albanian descent Aries Trikala B.C. players Basket Zaragoza players Bnei Herzliya basketball players Centers (basketball) Curtis High School alumni Hofstra Pride men's basketball players KK Budućnost players KK Olimpija players Liga ACB players Montenegrin emigrants to the United States Montenegrin men's basketball players Virtus Roma players Power forwards Saint Joseph's Hawks men's basketball players Basketball players from Staten Island 21st-century American sportsmen