Michele Christopher Di Nunno (born January 29, 1990) is an American-Italian professional basketball player, playing the

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

position. Born in

Maywood, Illinois Maywood is a village in Proviso Township, Cook County, Illinois, United States in the Chicago metropolitan area. It was founded on April 6, 1869, and organized October 22, 1881. The population was 23,512 at the 2020 United States Census. History ...

, he played high school basketball at Lake Park and Von Steuben. Initially, he committed to

Northern Illinois Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the U.S. state of Illinois. The region is by far the most populous of Illinois with nearly 9.7 million residents as of 2010. Economics Northern Illinois is dominated by th ...

to play

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 ...

, where he received MAC All-Freshman team honors. After two seasons, he transferred to

Eastern Kentucky Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways * Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 * Eastern Air ...

. DiNunno was named in the OVC All-Newcomer team in his junior season and first team all-OVC in his senior season at Eastern Kentucky. Following his graduation, he has played professionally in several leagues in Europe. In 2019 he won the Icelandic championship as a member of KR.

High school career

DiNunno started his high school career at Lake Park. In his sophomore season, he posted 17 points per game. He then went on to transfer to Von Steuben to play under coach Vince Carter. In his debut in the CPL he posted 19 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists to help his team win against Morgan Park. In his junior season, Dinunno averaged 18 points, five assists and four rebounds per game. He improved his numbers in his senior season averaging 22 points, 4.3 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game, to lead his school to a 24–6 record. Von Steuben won sectional titles in his junior and senior season and DiNunno received all-state honorable mentions in both seasons. DiNunno was a two-star recruit according to

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 ...

and a three star recruit according to

247Sports.com 247Sports is an American network of websites that focus mainly on athletic recruitment in college football and basketball. It is owned and operated by Paramount. The website hosts a large network of team-specific subsites, with each subsite be ...

, ranked 83rd in the point guard position.

College career

DiNunno was initially offered a scholarship to play for

Rob Judson Rob Judson (born January 13, 1958) is an American men's basketball coach who is currently an assistant coach at Illinois State. He was the head coach at the Northern Illinois University from 2001 to 2007 and held assistant positions at Bradley, Il ...

, but committed to the school in 2007 as the offer was confirmed by new head coach

Ricardo Patton Ricardo Maurice Patton (born October 23, 1958) is an American college basketball coach who most recently served as senior advisor to the head men's basketball coach at Vanderbilt University. On March 9, 2011, NIU announced that Patton would not re ...

. Three games into his freshman season, DiNunno had a Northern Illinois career-high in scoring with 27 points, to help the Huskies overcome

Indiana State Indiana State University (ISU) is a public university in Terre Haute, Indiana. It was founded in 1865 and offers over 100 undergraduate majors and more than 75 graduate and professional programs. Indiana State is classified among "D/PU: Doctor ...

86–79. Against

Southeast Missouri State Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO) is a public university in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. In addition to the main campus, the university has four regional campuses offering full degree programs and a secondary campus housing the Holland Col ...

he posted a career-high 6 steals to combine with 16 points and 5 assists. By leading all MAC freshmen in scoring, assists, free throw percentage, three-pointers made and minutes played, he was named in the conference's all-freshman team. Before the start of his sophomore season, three of DiNunno's grandparents died within a month and a half; later on he admitted it was a difficult task to balance that with performing at 19 years of age. Versus

Western Michigan West Michigan and Western Michigan are terms for an arbitrary region in the U.S. state of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Most narrowly it refers to the Grand Rapids-Muskegon-Holland, Michigan, Holland area, and more broadly to most of the region a ...

, DiNunno recorded his first career double-double by posting a season-high 21 points and a career-best 10 assists, to help his team win its fourth game in a row. Following the end of his sophomore season DiNunno announced that he would not return to Northern Illinois for his junior season. DiNunno initially planned to transfer to,

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

college, Quincy. After Luke Strege left Quincy to join

as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator, DiNunno chose to transfer to Eastern Kentucky to continue playing Division I basketball. His transfer was made official in May 2010 with DiNunno having to sit out for the 2010–11 season due to NCAA transfer rules. He had a career-high 33 points performance against

Tennessee State Tennessee State University (Tennessee State, Tenn State, or TSU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1912, it is the only state-funded historically black university in Tennesse ...

as his team lost 91–85 in double overtime. For his performances in his first season at Eastern Kentucky he was named in OVC All-Newcomer Team, an honor given to first year players in the league, freshmen and transfers. In his senior season, DiNunno made a lay-up with 2.3 seconds left in the game against

Western Carolina Western Carolina University (WCU) is a public university in Cullowhee, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina system. The fifth oldest institution of the sixteen four-year universities in the UNC system, WCU was founded t ...

to help his team win and reach a 7–0 record. The record was extended to 9–0, the school's best start in 66 years. Starting all 34 games he played in the season, he achieved a season-high 24 points performance four times; three of them were in consecutive games in January versus Belmont,

Jacksonville State Jacksonville State University (JSU) is a public university in Jacksonville, Alabama. Founded in 1883, Jacksonville State offers programs of study in six academic schools leading to bachelor's, master's, education specialist, and doctorate degrees ...

and

, the fourth being against Tennessee State in March. By leading Eastern Kentucky in scoring, assists and steals and guiding the team to a school record in victories, DiNunno was named first team all-OVC in 2013.

College statistics

Source: , - , align="left" , 2008–09 , align="left" ,

, 30 , , 29 , , 29.5 , , .352 , , .339 , , .732 , , 2.2 , , 2.6 , , 1.5 , , .0 , , 11.9 , - , align="left" , 2009–10 , align="left" , Northern Illinois , 30 , , 21 , , 23.7 , , .312 , , .290 , , .629 , , 1.6 , , 3.0 , , 1.0 , , .0 , , 7.0 , - , style="text-align:center;" colspan="13", ''Did not play in the 2010–11 season due to NCAA transfer rules.'' , - , align="left" , 2011–12 , align="left" ,

, 32 , , 30 , , 28.6 , , .400 , , .277 , , .811 , , 1.9 , , 2.8 , , 1.5 , , .0 , , 9.5 , - , align="left" ,

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, align="left" , Eastern Kentucky , 34 , , 34 , , 35.3 , , .422 , , .389 , , .853 , , 2.1 , , 4.3 , , 1.9 , , .0 , , 14.8 , - , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , align="right" , 126 , , 114 , , 29.4 , , .377 , , .345 , , .779 , , 1.9 , , 3.2 , , 1.5 , , .0 , , 11.0 , -

Professional career

Following his graduation from college, DiNunno signed his first professional contract in

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

with Beroe in November 2013. He scored a season-high 41 points against

Levski Sofia Levski Sofia ( bg, Левски София) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which competes in the First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The club was founded on 24 May 1914 b ...

. With Beroe he started 5 of his 6 games with the team averaging 23.7 points, 3 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.5 steals per game, in 32.3 minutes playing times. After leaving Beroe in January, he joined Nord Barese in Italy and scored 16 points in 21 minutes in his debut in January 2014. He had a season-high 20 points performance against

Ferrara Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...

. DiNunno appeared in 10 games for Nord Barese, averaging 14.6 points, 2.9 rebounds and 4 assists per game. In October 2014, DiNunno signed for

British Basketball League The British Basketball League (BBL) is a men's professional basketball league in Great Britain and represents the highest level of play in the countries. The league is contested by 10 teams from England and Scotland. There are no clubs howeve ...

team

Cheshire Phoenix The Cheshire Phoenix are a professional basketball team based in Ellesmere Port, England. Founded in 1984, they are members of the British Basketball League and play their home games at the Cheshire Oaks Arena. From 1993 until 2015 the team was ...

. He had 36 points, 4 assists and 4 steals against the

Manchester Giants The Manchester Giants are a British professional basketball team based in Manchester, England. The franchise was established in 2011, and admitted to the top-tier British Basketball League in 2012. The team's formation was led by a consortium ...

, to achieve season-highs in scoring and steals. He dished out a season-high 10 assists to help his team get past the

Glasgow Rocks The Caledonia Gladiators are a professional basketball club in Glasgow, Scotland. The Gladiators compete in the British Basketball League, the top tier of British basketball. Since 2012, the team have played their home games at the Emirates Ar ...

. He was waived by the club in April due to a back injury that kept him out for almost a month. His team, that started the season 1–4, went 17–3 when DiNunno played. He played in 21 games in the BBL, averaging 15.9 points, 2.1 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.9 steals per game. In August 2015 DiNunno signed an annual contract with Greek A2 team

Iraklis Thessaloniki Gymnasticos Syllogos Iraklis ( el, Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Ηρακλής, en, Gymnastics Club Heracles), commonly referred to as Iraklis, is a Greek multi-sports club based in Thessaloniki. The club was founded in 1908 as "Mace ...

. He scored a game-high 26 points in his debut for Iraklis, helping his team get a narrow 82–81 away win against

Ethnikos Piraeus Ethnikos Piraeus (Greek: Εθνικός Πειραιώς) is a Greek multisport club based in Piraeus. It was founded in 1923. The full name of the club is Ethnikos Omilos Filathlon Pireos/Phalirou or Ethnikos OFPF (Greek: Εθνικός Όμιλ ...

for the first round of the

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most im ...

. He scored a season-high 31 points against

Psychiko Psychiko ( el, Ψυχικό ) is a suburb of Athens, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Filothei-Psychiko, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. The municipality has an area of . Overview Psychik ...

, shooting 6-of-10 three-pointers. On 30 January 2016 his contract with the team was terminated by mutual consent. Totally he appeared in 11 league games for Iraklis averaging 16.2 points, 1.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 1.9 steals per game. In February 2017 DiNunno returned to Cheshire Phoenix to play under head coach Robbie Peers. On 2 April 2017 he led the Phoenix to victory over the London Lions scoring 40 points. DiNunno started the 2017–2018 season with

BC Beroe BC Beroe ( bg, БК Берое) is a Bulgarian professional basketball club based in Stara Zagora and plays in the Bulgarian National Basketball League. The club plays its home games at the Obshtinska Municipal Hall , which has a capacity of 800 ...

, helping them win the Bulgarian Supercup on 17 September 2017. In 9 games in the Bulgarian National Basketball League, he averaged 11.2 points and 5.4 assists. In January 2019, DiNunno signed with reigning Úrvalsdeild karla champions KR. After a rough start, which included a scoreless outing against Tindastóll, he ended the season on a high note, averaging 23.0 points in the last four regular season games. In the playoffs he averaged 16.7 points in KR's first round sweep of

Keflavík Keflavík (pronounced , meaning ''Driftwood Bay'') is a town in the Reykjanes region in southwest Iceland. It is included in the municipality of Reykjanesbær whose population as of 2016 is 15,129. In 1995, Keflavik merged with nearby Njarðv ...

. On 4 May 2019 he won the Icelandic championship after KR beat ÍR in the Úrvalsdeild finals 3–2, scoring a game high 27 points in the fifth and deciding game. In July 2019, DiNunno signed with

LEB Oro LEB or Leb may refer to: * Lausanne–Echallens–Bercher railway, Switzerland * Lebanon, UNDP country code * Lebanon Municipal Airport (New Hampshire) (FAA identifier) * Lexham English Bible * Life expectancy at birth * Liga Española de Balonces ...

club

Básquet Coruña Club Básquet Coruña, more commonly referred by its sponsorship name of Leyma Básquet Coruña, is a professional basketball team based in A Coruña, Galicia. The team currently plays in league LEB Oro. History CB Coruña was founded in 1996 a ...

. In end of January 2020, DiNunno returned to KR, signing with the team for the rest of the season. However, the rest of the Úrvalsdeild season was canceled due to the

coronavirus pandemic in Iceland The COVID-19 pandemic in Iceland is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The virus was confirmed to have reached Iceland in February 2020. , the total ...

before he played a game. On 3 September 2020, KR announced that DiNunno would not return to the team for the upcoming season.

Personal

DiNunno was born on January 29, 1990, in

, to Kathleen and Mike DiNunno. He has five siblings, Nadia, Kalie, Nikalia, Niko and Mariono. Mike DiNunno was given an Italian passport in February 2013, allowing him dual citizenship to play as an Italian.

References

External links

Northern Illinois ProfileEastern Kentucky ProfileIcelandic statisticsBulgarian statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:DiNunno, Mike 1990 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Bulgaria American expatriate basketball people in Greece American expatriate basketball people in Iceland American expatriate basketball people in the United Kingdom American men's basketball players Basketball players from Illinois Cheshire Phoenix players Eastern Kentucky Colonels men's basketball players Iraklis Thessaloniki B.C. players Italian expatriate basketball people in Greece KR men's basketball players Northern Illinois Huskies men's basketball players Point guards Sportspeople from Maywood, Illinois Úrvalsdeild karla (basketball) players