Luc Tselan Tsiene Etou (born June 4, 1994), also known as "Junior" Etou, is a Congolese basketball player for

New Basket Brindisi New Basket Brindisi, for sponsorship reasons named Happy Casa Brindisi or shortly Brindisi, is a professional Italian basketball based in Brindisi, Apulia. It plays in the first division LBA in the 2022–23 season. Founded in 2004, the well-s ...

of the

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 le ...

Personal life

Etou was born in

Pointe-Noire Pointe-Noire (; kg, Njinji, french: Ndjindji with the letter d following French spelling standards) is the second largest city in the Republic of the Congo, following the capital of Brazzaville, and an autonomous department since 2004. Before t ...

Republic of Congo The Republic of the Congo (french: République du Congo, ln, Republíki ya Kongó), also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply either Congo or the Congo, is a country located in the western coast of Central Africa to the w ...

High school

From 2012 to 2013, Etou played for

Bishop Denis J. O'Connell High School Bishop Denis J. O'Connell High School (also known as DJO) is a Roman Catholic college preparatory school founded in 1957 in Arlington County, Virginia. It was established by the Diocese of Richmond, but it has been under the direction of the Dio ...

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county is ...

. A cousin of

Oklahoma City Thunder The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team plays i ...

forward

Serge Ibaka Serge Jonás Ibaka Ngobila (; born 18 September 1989) is a Congolese-Spanish professional basketball player for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Ibaka was drafted by the Seattle SuperSonics with the 24th overa ...

, Etou ranked as

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

's No. 142 national recruit in the Class of 2013, and No. 31 on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

's Top Recruits for Power Forwards in 2013. He held offers from Clemson, Kansas, Maryland, Miami (Fla.), Rutgers, Washington, West Virginia, and Xavier.

College career

He was signed by

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

on May 1, 2013, and played for them for two years. Etou began his collegiate career at

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 ...

. As a sophomore, he averaged 7.4 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. Following his sophomore season, he transferred to

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

. He was named TU Athlete of the Week. Etou averaged 15 points and 7.9 rebounds per game as a senior, leading the team in both categories. He earned Second Team All-

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) ...

honors.

College statistics

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2013–14 , style="text-align:left;", , 27 , , 20 , , 23.0 , , .419 , , .256 , , .639 , , 4.6 , , 0.7 , , 0.2 , , 0.4 , , 5.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2014–15 , style="text-align:left;", , 31 , , 31 , , 29.6 , , .391 , , .311 , , .662 , , 6.6 , , 0.6 , , 0.4 , , 0.4 , , 7.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;", , 32 , , 32 , , 29.2 , , .490 , , .427 , , .767 , , 6.7 , , 1.3 , , 0.5 , , 0.1 , , 12.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;", , 31 , , 31 , , 30.4 , , .466 , , .350 , , .715 , , 7.9 , , 1.5 , , 0.5 , , 0.3 , , 15.0 , -

Professional career

Etou signed with the Turkish club

Sakarya Büyükşehir Belediyesi S.K. Sakarya Büyükşehir Belediyesi Spor Kulübü, more commonly known as Sakarya BB was a Turkish professional basketball club based in Sakarya which played two seasons in the Turkish Basketball Super League (TBL). The team was founded and sponsored ...

on July 27, 2018. On April 5, 2019, he signed with Movistar Estudiantes of the Spanish ACB. On July 24, 2019, he signed with

Cholet Basket Cholet Basket is a professional basketball club that is based in Cholet, France. The club plays in the French League. Their home arena is La Meilleraie. Established in 1975, Cholet won its first French championship in the 2009–10 season. In 19 ...

of the French

LNB Pro A The LNB Pro A, currently known for sponsorship reasons as Betclic Élite, is the top-tier men's professional basketball league in France. The competition has existed since 1921. Since 1987, the Ligue Nationale de Basket has governed the league. ...

. On November 10, 2019, he signed with s.Oliver Würzburg of the German

Basketball Bundesliga The Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) (English language: ''Federal Basketball League''), for sponsorship reasons named easyCredit BBL, is the highest level league of professional club basketball in Germany. The league comprises 18 teams. A BBL season ...

(BBL). On August 16, 2020, Etou signed with UJAP Quimper 29 of the

LNB Pro B The LNB Pro B, commonly known as Pro B, is the French basketball league system, 2nd-tier level men's professional basketball league in France. It is the second division of the Ligue Nationale de Basket (LNB), which has organized the league since t ...

. On August 2, 2021, he signed with

Hapoel Be'er Sheva Hapoel Be'er Sheva Football Club ( he, מועדון הכדורגל הפועל באר שבע, ''Moadon HaKaduregel Hapoel Be'er Sheva'') is an Israeli football club from the city of Be'er Sheva, that competes in the Israeli Premier League. The c ...

of the

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League ( he, ליגת העל, ''Ligat Ha`Al'', ), is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Israeli Football League – the state's league of Israel. The league is contested b ...

. On July 28, 2022, he has signed with

of the

International career

Etou competed with the Republic of the Congo national basketball team at the 2009 African Championship, where he averaged 1.7 blocks per game, ranking second in the competition despite being the second youngest player at the tournament.Luc Tselan Tsiene Etou
at FIBA

References