Isaiah Leonja Ross (born October 24, 1996) 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 Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player. 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

UMKC Kangaroos The Kansas City Roos, known before July 1, 2019, as the UMKC Kangaroos and also sometimes called the Kansas City Kangaroos, are the intercollegiate teams representing the University of Missouri–Kansas City that compete in the National Collegia ...

and the

Iona Gaels The Iona Gaels are the athletics teams of Iona University, in New Rochelle, New York. They compete in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) and participate in 21 NCAA Division I programs. Varsity athletic programs Men's basketball I ...

High school career

Ross attended

Davenport West High School West High School is a public four year high school located in Davenport, Iowa. Their athletic mascot is the Falcon. The school has almost 200 classes, and over 1,600 students. The school, along with Davenport Central and Davenport North, make up ...

. As a senior, he averaged 17 points per game. Ross did a postgraduate season at Hillcrest Prep, playing alongside

Deandre Ayton Deandre Edoneille Ayton Sr. (born July 23, 1998) is a Bahamian professional basketball player who plays for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played for the Arizona Wildcats in the Pac-12 Conference in the 2017� ...

and

Marvin Bagley Marvin Bagley III (born March 16, 1999) is an American professional basketball player for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Duke Blue Devils and was a 2018 Consensus All-Amer ...

. He committed to playing college basketball for UMKC.

College career

As a freshman at UMKC, Ross averaged 8 points and 1.9 rebounds per game. He averaged 11.3 points and 3.1 rebounds per game as a sophomore. Following the season, he transferred to

Iona Iona (; gd, Ì Chaluim Chille (IPA: �iːˈxaɫ̪ɯimˈçiʎə, sometimes simply ''Ì''; sco, Iona) is a small island in the Inner Hebrides, off the Ross of Mull on the western coast of Scotland. It is mainly known for Iona Abbey, though there ...

, sitting out a season per NCAA regulations. As a junior, Ross averaged 11 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game. In the offseason, he worked on his defense and passing, improving his foot speed and lateral speed alongside

Chasson Randle Chasson Randle (born February 5, 1993) is an American professional basketball player for the Grand Rapids Gold of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the Stanford Cardinal. As a senior in 2014–15, he was considered one of the top ...

, and embraced new coach Rick Pitino's skills workouts. In the season opener against Seton Hall, Ross scored 23 points but "played very poorly," according to Pitino. On December 5, 2020, he scored a career-high 33 points in a 82–74 win over Hofstra. During his senior year, Ross helped Iona win the MAAC championship and reach the NCAA Tournament. He averaged 18.4 points, 3.9 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.4 steals per game. Ross was a unanimous First Team All- MAAC selection.

Professional career

Ross was selected with the 18th pick in the 2021 NBA G League draft by the

Maine Celtics The Maine Celtics (formerly the Maine Red Claws) are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Portland, Maine, and are affiliated with the Boston Celtics. The Maine Celtics play their home games at the Portland Expo B ...

. He was acquired by the

Santa Cruz Warriors The Santa Cruz Warriors are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Santa Cruz, California, and are affiliated with the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors play their home games at Kaiser Permanente Arena. Prior to ...

in a three-team trade. However, he was waived on December 8, after making 7 appearances. On December 19, he signed with the

Lakeland Magic The Lakeland Magic are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Lakeland, Florida, and are affiliated with the Orlando Magic. The Magic began play in the 2017–18 season and play their home games at the RP Fundin ...

. On December 30, 2021, Ross was acquired by the Oklahoma City Blue 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 ...

, but was later waived on January 5, 2022.

Wisconsin Herd (2022)

On January 7, 2022, Ross was acquired by the

Wisconsin Herd The Wisconsin Herd are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and are affiliated with the Milwaukee Bucks. The Herd play their home games at Oshkosh Arena. History On June 29, 2016, it was anno ...

. He was then later waived on January 19, 2022.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;", UMKC , 34 , , 10 , , 17.2 , , .394 , , .376 , , .833 , , 1.9 , , .6 , , .5 , , .0 , , 8.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;", UMKC , 32 , , 17 , , 25.2 , , .400 , , .359 , , .779 , , 3.1 , , 1.0 , , .5 , , .0 , , 11.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:center;" colspan="11",

Redshirt , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 29 , , 21 , , 31.0 , , .459 , , .401 , , .725 , , 3.2 , , 1.1 , , .7 , , .1 , , 11.0 , - , 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;",

, 18 , , 18 , , 34.5 , , .455 , , .383 , , .812 , , 3.9 , , 1.4 , , 1.4 , , .1 , , 18.4 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 113 , , 66 , , 25.7 , , .426 , , .379 , , .787 , , 2.9 , , 1.0 , , .7 , , .0 , , 11.4

Personal life

Ross graduated from Iona with a degree in communications with an emphasis in public relations.

References

External links

Iona Gaels bioUMKC Kangaroos bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ross, Isaiah 1996 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from Iowa American expatriate basketball people in Switzerland American expatriate basketball people in France American expatriate basketball people in Kosovo American expatriate basketball people in Greece Kansas City Roos men's basketball players Iona Gaels men's basketball players Lakeland Magic players Sportspeople from Davenport, Iowa Santa Cruz Warriors players Shooting guards KB Trepça players