Jacob Alexander Grandison (born April 2, 1998) is a Finnish-American basketball player. He plays for

Salon Vilpas Vilpas Vikings, also referred to as Salon Vilpas, is a professional basketball club based in Salo, Finland. The team currently plays in the top level Korisliiga. The Vikings are a part of the Salon Vilpas multi-sport club. In 2021, Vilpas won its ...

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 ...

, and for the Finland national team. He previously 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

Holy Cross Crusaders The Holy Cross Crusaders are the athletic teams representing the College of the Holy Cross. They primarily compete in NCAA Division I as members of the Patriot League. In ice hockey, a sport not sponsored by the Patriot League for either sex, th ...

, 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 ...

, and the

Duke Blue Devils The Duke Blue Devils are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Duke University, located in Durham, North Carolina. Duke's athletics department features 27 varsity teams that all compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Associatio ...

High school career

Grandison began his high school career playing for Berkeley High School. Grandison started his sophomore year on junior varsity, but he was elevated to the varsity team. During the last two years Grandison was in Berkeley High School, he played basketball with private coaching, due to unethical environment and coaching methods in his school. Later Grandison has told in media about the situation, that it was not safe for him to play under the coach of Berkeley. When his father noted the school about those circumstances, he was threatened not to make it an issue, or else Grandison's life and health will be in danger. Since then, Grandison was escorted on his way to school, and his social life was forced to be limited.Jacob Grandison pyytää, ettei hänen ohuiden käsivarsiensa anneta hämätä
Etelä-Suomen Sanomat, Raiko Häyrinen, 12 June 2023 He committed himself to continue to train with Chris Garlington at Overtime Sports Academy (CA). In May 2016, Grandison's senior year of high school, he was seen, by Team Lillard's head coach, Raymond Young, playing basketball on a non-sponsored AAU team. Coach Raym Young invited Grandison to play basketball on its Adidas sponsored AAU team supported by Oakland's very-own Damian Lillard. This experience permitted, for the first time, Division I coaches to see Grandison compete from May to July 2016, following his graduation from his public high school. During spring 2016, Grandison decided to attended a post-graduate high school year at

Phillips Exeter Academy (not for oneself) la, Finis Origine Pendet (The End Depends Upon the Beginning) gr, Χάριτι Θεοῦ (By the Grace of God) , location = 20 Main Street , city = Exeter, New Hampshire , zipcode ...

Exeter, New Hampshire Exeter is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 16,049 at the 2020 census, up from 14,306 at the 2010 census. Exeter was the county seat until 1997, when county offices were moved to neighboring Brentwood. ...

for the 2016–17 season. Grandison was named Third-team Class A All-New England Honors and led the Exonians to a

NEPSAC The New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) is an organization that serves as the governing body for sports in preparatory schools and leagues in New England. The organization has 169 full member schools as well as 24 associate ...

Class A championship, where he scored 20 points in the final, championship game and was named MVP of the tournament. His success at Phillips Exeter led to Grandison being offered a Division-I scholarship to play for Holy Cross, where he ended up committing.

College career

Grandison began his college career at Holy Cross, where he played in all 31 games and started 18 games his freshman year. During his first year, he averaged nine points a game and led his team in scoring six times and rebounding nine times. As a sophomore, Grandison started in all 33 games. He led the team in scoring with an average of 13.9 points per game, which was 11th in the

Patriot League The Patriot League is a collegiate athletic conference comprising private institutions of higher education and two United States service academies based in the Northeastern United States. Outside the Ivy League, it is among the most selective gr ...

, and was second on the team in recounting with five rebounds per game. Along with this, Grandison shot 36.5 percent from three with a team high of 69 three-pointers, which was eighth in the Patriot league. Some individual highlights for the season included scoring a double-double of 21 points and a career-high 10 assists against Stony Brook on November 16, 2018, a career-high of 25 points against

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 ...

on December 30, 2018, and a double-double of 22 points and a career-high 16 rebounds against Lafayette on March 5, 2019. After two years at Holy Cross, Grandison transferred to

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 ...

. After sitting out the 2019–20 season because of NCAA transfer rules, Grandison started his Illinois career as a bench player. However, after Illinois suffered consecutive losses to

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

and

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 ...

, 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 ...

decided to shake up his lineup and put Grandison in the starting lineup for their game against

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

on January 19, 2021. This proved to be a successful change as Illinois beat the Nittany Lions 79–65, and Grandison started 15 of the final 16 games of the season. With Grandison in the lineup, Illinois moved from 22 to 2 in the

AP poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadca ...

and won the

2021 Big Ten men's basketball tournament The 2021 Big Ten men's basketball tournament was a postseason men's basketball tournament for the Big Ten Conference of the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season which took place March 10–14, 2021. The tournament was originally to ...

. For the entire season, Grandison averaged 4.6 points and 3.4 rebounds a game. For his senior season, Grandison saw a more increased role as he started in 23 of the 30 games he played. On February 19, 2022, Grandison had his most points as an Illini with 24 points and tied a career-high in three pointers made in a game with six as he helped lead his team to a win against

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

79–74. However, on March 3, 2022, Grandison sustained a shoulder injury against

, which caused him to miss the last game of the regular season and the Big Ten tournament and limited his playing time in the NCAA tournament. Despite this, he averaged 9.6 points and 3.8 rebounds per game, which was fourth on the team for both, and earned an Academic All-Big Ten selection. After graduating from Illinois, Grandison decided to use his final year of eligibility and transferred to Duke. While attending Duke, Jacob was selected to the All-ACC Academic Team.

Professional career

On 16 August 2023, KK Cibona in Croatian League and ABA League announced the signing of Grandison, but the deal was eventually collapsed due to the club's financial problems. On 27 October 2023, it was announced that Grandison had signed his first professional contract with Spanish club

Menorca Menorca or Minorca (from la, Insula Minor, , smaller island, later ''Minorica'') is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. Its name derives from its size, contrasting it with nearby Majorca. Its capi ...

on a three-month deal. On 27 February 2024, Grandison moved to Finland and signed with

for the rest of the 2023–24 season.

National team career

Grandison was born to a Finnish-Swedish mother and an American father, and has a dual Finnish-American citizenship by birth. Grandison's Finnish citizenship permitted him to represent the Finland men's national basketball team in its summer training camp and their Olympic preparatory national team matches in 2021. Grandison was also part of the Finland squad in World Cup preparatory games in Summer 2023. He was named in the Finland final squad in the

2023 FIBA World Cup The 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup will be the 19th tournament of the FIBA Basketball World Cup for men's national basketball teams. The tournament will be the second to feature 32 teams. For the first time in its history, the World Cup will be h ...

tournament. Grandison also played in the 2024 FIBA Olympic qualifying tournament.

Personal life

Grandison was born in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

and grew up in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

. His mother, Carina, is from

Haaga Haaga ( sv, Haga köping) is a district and a former municipality in the Western major district of Helsinki with a population of 25,435.http://www.hel2.fi/tietokeskus/helsinki_alueittain_2005/203Haaga.pdf 2005 statistics about Haaga Haaga is d ...

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, Finland, and she had met Grandison's father, James, in California when she was an exchange student in the U.S. He competitively swam growing up for the Oakland Undercurrents and competed in the 50 freestyle at the Junior Olympics. He graduated from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign with his bachelor's (B.S.) degree in earth, society, and environmental sustainability in 2021, and graduated with his master's (M.S.) degree from the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

GIES School of Business in business management in May 2022. Although being born and raised in the United States, Grandison visited Finland with his family during summers when he was younger. He does not speak Finnish, but understands and speaks some Swedish, which his mother spoke to him when he was a child. Grandison's maternal grandfather was

Nils Mustelin Nils Olof Mustelin (11 August 1931 in Turku – 28 April 2004 in Helsinki) was a Finnish professor of physics, noted astronomer, and popular skeptic. Mustelin was born in Turku (Åbo in Swedish), where he also went to school and attended univer ...

, a Finnish professor of physics and an astronomer, and a former member of the Helsinki city council.Jacob Grandison pyytää, ettei hänen ohuiden käsivarsiensa anneta hämätä
Etelä-Suomen Sanomat, Raiko Häyrinen, 12 June 2023

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;", Holy Cross , 31 , , 18 , , 27.5 , , .442 , , .317 , , .741 , , 4.5 , , 2.0 , , .8 , , .2 , , 9.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;", Holy Cross , 33 , , 33 , , 34.6 , , .429 , , .365 , , .800 , , 5.0 , , 2.9 , , 1.1 , , .3 , , 13.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

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

Redshirt , - , 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;",

, 30 , , 16 , , 15.3 , , .526 , , .415 , , .957 , , 3.4 , , 1.3 , , .5 , , .1 , , 4.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

, 30 , , 23 , , 25.0 , , .455 , , .410 , , .824 , , 3.8 , , 2.3 , , .3 , , .2 , , 9.6 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2022–23 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;",

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

, 34 , , 0 , , 15.9 , , .397 , , .333 , , .889 , , 2.1 , , 1.4 , , .4 , , .1 , , 4.4 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 158 , , 90 , , 23.7 , , .442 , , .364 , , .814 , , 3.8 , , 2.0 , , .6 , , .2 , , 8.3

National team

References

External links

Duke Blue Devils bioESPN profileIllinois Fighting Illini bioHoly Cross Crusaders bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grandison, Jacob 1998 births Living people 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup players American men's basketball players American people of Finnish descent Basketball players from San Francisco Berkeley High School (Berkeley, California) alumni Duke Blue Devils men's basketball players Finnish people of African-American descent Holy Cross Crusaders men's basketball players Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball players Phillips Exeter Academy alumni Shooting guards Swedish-speaking Finns