Maurice Kemp (born February 2, 1991) is an American basketball player who plays the

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to center (basketball), centers. When on Of ...

position for

Bnei Herzliya Bnei Herzliya Basket (, lit. ''Sons of Herzliya''), is a professional basketball club that is based in Herzliya, in the Sharon district in Israel. The club plays in the Israeli Basketball Premier League, the top division of Israeli basketball. It ...

in the

Israeli Basketball Premier League Ligat HaAl ( he, ליגת העל, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is the top-tier level league of professional sports, professional competition in Israeli sports club, club basketball, making ...

. He previously played for the Maccabi Rishon LeZion in the same league, and in several other leagues from 2013–21; namely, the EuroCup,

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 ...

Greek Basket League The Greek Basket League (GBL), often also referred to as the Greek A1 Basketball League, or Greek Basketball Championship (originally called Panhellenic Basketball Championship), and also known as the Stoiximan Basket League for sponsorship reaso ...

Liga Nacional de Básquet The Liga Nacional de Básquet (abbreviated LNB, and literally in English, "National Basketball League"), also commonly referred to as "La Liga de Básquet" ("The Basketball League"), is the top-tier level of the Argentine basketball league system ...

Liga ACB The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administrated by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, wi ...

, and the

VTB United League VTB United League (russian: Единая Лига ВТБ) is an international professional men's club basketball list of basketball leagues, league that was founded in 2008. It is made up of mostly Russian clubs, along with one each from Belarus an ...

. He played college basketball for

Alabama A&M Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University (Alabama A&M) is a public historically black land-grant university in Normal, Huntsville, Alabama. Founded in 1875, it took its present name in 1969. AAMU is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshal ...

Miami Dade College Miami Dade College (Miami Dade, MDC or Dade) is a public college in Miami, Florida. Founded in 1959, it has a total of eight campuses and twenty-one outreach centers throughout Miami-Dade County. It is the largest college in the Florida College ...

, and

East Carolina East Carolina University (ECU) is a public research university in Greenville, North Carolina. It is the fourth largest university in North Carolina. Founded on March 8, 1907, as a teacher training school, East Carolina has grown from its orig ...

, with whom he led

Conference USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...

in scoring in his senior year.

Early life

He was born in

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

, to Valerie and Maurice Kemp, Sr., and he has three siblings. Kemp grew up in Miami, as well as

Pembroke Pines, Florida Pembroke Pines is a city in southern Broward County, Florida, United States. The city is located 22 miles (35 km) north of Miami. The population of Pembroke Pines is 171,178 as of the 2020 census. It is a suburb of and the fourth-most populous c ...

. Kemp attended Miami Dade Christian Academy, graduating in 2009, and played for the basketball team. As a senior, he averaged 26 points and 11 rebounds a game. He was named second-team All State and first-team All County as a senior. He was also on the high school

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

team. He is tall, and weighs .

College

2009–2011: Alabama A&M and Miami Dade College

Kemp attended

from 2009–10, playing for the Alabama A&M Bulldogs basketball team. He averaged 5.5 points per game, on 47.8% shooting from the field, and 34.8% shooting from beyond the 3 point line; he also picked up 2.8 rebounds per game. He then attended

from 2010–11. Playing

small forward The small forward (SF), also known as the three or swingman, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. Small forwards are typically shorter, quicker, and leaner than power forwards and centers but taller, larger, and stronger t ...

for the Sharks basketball team, Kemp averaged 16.9 points on shooting percentages of 59% from the floor, 52% behind the 3-point line, and 65% on free throws, while also averaging 9.9 rebounds (17th nationally), 1.8 assists, 1.8 blocks, and 1.5 steals a game. He was named as first-team All-Florida Community College Activities Association.

2011–2013: East Carolina

Kemp then attended

East Carolina University East Carolina University (ECU) is a public university, public research university in Greenville, North Carolina. It is the fourth largest university in North Carolina. Founded on March 8, 1907, as a Normal school, teacher training school, East ...

(ECU), where he majored in

child development Child development involves the Human development (biology), biological, developmental psychology, psychological and emotional changes that occur in human beings between birth and the conclusion of adolescence. Childhood is divided into 3 stages o ...

and family relations, and played basketball for the

East Carolina Pirates The East Carolina Pirates are the athletic teams that represent East Carolina University (ECU), located in Greenville, North Carolina. All varsity-level sports teams participate at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division ...

as a junior in 2011–12. Here, he averaged 10.5 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. He also shot 77.9% on free throws across the entire season (7th in

), and 88.9% on free throws during conference games (which led the conference); his 2.4 offensive rebounds per game were 10th in the conference. He was unanimously selected as a member of the Conference USA Men's Basketball All-Academic Team. As a senior at ECU in 2012–13, Kemp led Conference USA (C-USA) in scoring with 18.9 points per game (becoming the first player in the program's history to lead the C-USA in scoring), and in points (660). He was 2nd in the conference in field goals (231; 15th in the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

), 2-point field goals (215; 9th in the NCAA), and free throws made (182), 4th in field goal percentage (50.5%), 4th in defensive rebounds (193), and 5th in steals (61) and steals per game (1.1). He became the third player with the Pirates to score more than 600 points in a single season, and established new school single-season records for made and attempted free throws (182/241, respectively), and minutes played (1,202). He received first-team All-Conference USA (the first East Carolina player to receive them), and second-team

National Association of Basketball Coaches The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, is an American organization of men's college basketball coaches. It was founded in 1927 by Phog Allen, head men's basketball coach at the University o ...

(NABC) All-District 11 honors, as well as being named MVP of the 2013 CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT). He ended his career with the Pirates ranked ninth in school history with 66 blocks.

Professional career

In his professional career, Kemp played in 2013–14 for

Alba Fehérvár Alba Fehérvár are a Hungarian professional basketball club based in Székesfehérvár that compete Nemzeti Bajnokság I, the premier division of basketball in Hungary. Founded as the successor of Székesfehérvári MDSE, they took the Hungarian ...

in the EuroCup, where he averaged 12.3 points and 1.5 steals per game, and shot 82.1% from the free throw line. He then played during the 2014–15 season for the

Canton Charge The Cleveland Charge are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Cleveland, Ohio, and are affiliated with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The team plays its home games at the Wolstein Center in downtown Cleveland. The f ...

of the

G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA Dev ...

, and in 2015–16 for

Kavala B.C. Kavala B.C. is a Greek professional basketball club that is located in Kavala, Greece. The club is also known as E.K. Kavalas, with the club's full name being Enosi Kalathosfairisis Kavalas, which means Kavala Basketball Union ( el, Ένωση � ...

in the

. In 2016–17, he played for the

Tadamon Zouk Tadamon Zouk ( ar, التضامن الزوق) is a Lebanese sports club most known for its basketball program. It is located in Zouk Mikael, Kesrouan, Lebanon. Tadamon Zouk basketball team is part of the Lebanese Basketball League. It was part ...

of the

Lebanese Basketball League The Lebanese Basketball League is the top-tier professional men's basketball league in Lebanon. It is organized annually as a national championship with playoffs and a national cup by the Lebanese Basketball Federation (FLB). Currently, the leagu ...

, where he averaged 23.4 points (3rd in the league), with 8.6 rebounds (8th), and 1.9 steals (5th). He then moved on to the

, where he played for the

Obras Sanitarias Club Atlético Obras Sanitarias de la Nación (mostly known simply as Obras Sanitarias or Obras) is an Argentina, Argentine professional sports club that is located in the district of Núñez, Buenos Aires. Although originally conceived as a rugb ...

in 2017–18; here, he averaged 20.7 points per game, leading the league. He then played in 2018–19 for Montakit Fuenlabrada in the

, and in 2020–21 for Kalev/Cramo in the

, where he averaged 12.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game, and was 9th in the league with 0.9 blocks per game, with a .548 field goal percentage (2nd). He also helped the team win the

Latvian-Estonian Basketball League The Latvian-Estonian Basketball League is the highest professional men's club basketball league in Latvia and Estonia; it has been organised since 2018, run by the Latvian Basketball Association and the Estonian Basketball Association. History ...

and was named the MVP of the competition. He then brought his game to Israel. In 2021-22, Kemp played for Maccabi Rishon LeZion in the

, where he averaged 16.0 points (10th in the league), 6.4 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game. He joined

in the Israeli Basketball Premier League on December 8, 2021.

References

External links

East Carolina Pirates bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kemp, Maurice 1991 births Living people Alabama A&M Bulldogs basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Estonia American expatriate basketball people in Greece American expatriate basketball people in Hungary American expatriate basketball people in Israel American expatriate basketball people in Spain American men's basketball players Baloncesto Fuenlabrada players Basketball players from Miami BC Kalev/Cramo players Bnei Hertzeliya basketball players Canton Charge players East Carolina Pirates men's basketball players Greek Basket League players Israeli Basketball Premier League players Maccabi Rishon LeZion basketball players Miami Dade Sharks men's basketball players Power forwards (basketball) Sportspeople from Pembroke Pines, Florida Gigantes de Carolina basketball players