Nicholas Muszynski (born November 19, 1998) 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 for

Astoria Bydgoszcz Astoria Bydgoszcz, also known as simply Astoria, is a Polish multi-sports club most known for the professional men's basketball team, based in Bydgoszcz. Playing in the Polish Basketball League and in the past in the FIBA Korać Cup. History In ...

of the

Polish Basketball League Polska Liga Koszykówki (PLK) (English language, English: Polish Basketball League) is a professional men's club basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Poland. It constitutes the first and highest-tier level of the Polish basketball leag ...

(PLK). 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

Belmont Bruins The Belmont Bruins are the intercollegiate athletic teams of Belmont University located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. The Bruins athletic program is a member of the Missouri Valley Conference. Prior to 2022, the Bruins were members of th ...

of the

Ohio Valley Conference The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern and Southeastern United States, Southeastern United States. It participates in NCAA Divisi ...

(OVC).

Early life and high school career

Growing up, Muszynski played volleyball and swam, but began focusing on basketball in sixth grade. He admired

Tim Duncan Timothy Theodore Duncan (born April 25, 1976) is an American former professional basketball player. Nicknamed "the Big Fundamental", he is widely regarded as the greatest power forward of all time and one of the greatest players in NBA histor ...

for his fundamentals, modelling his game after him. Muszynski played basketball for

Saint Charles Preparatory School Saint Charles Preparatory School is a four-year Catholic college preparatory school (a type of high school) in Columbus, Ohio, US. It was founded in 1923 by the fourth bishop of Columbus, James Joseph Hartley, James J. Hartley, as a Roman Catholic ...

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

He was a member of the

junior varsity team Junior varsity (often called "JV") players are the members of a team who are not the main players in a competition (such as any football, basketball, or baseball game), usually at the high school level–– and formerly at the collegiate level� ...

in his sophomore season, before being promoted to the

varsity team In most English-speaking countries, varsity is an abbreviation of the word ''university''. In the United States and Canada, the term is mostly used in relation to sports teams. Varsity in the United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, varsity team ...

and averaging 11.5 points and seven rebounds per game as a junior. In his senior season, Muszynski averaged 16 points, 11.3 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game, leading his team to a 24–3 record. He committed to playing college basketball for Belmont over offers from

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...

, Stony Brook and UNC Asheville.

College career

Muszynski

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

his first season at Belmont. In his debut game, he posted 18 points, 7 rebounds and 5 blocks against

Illinois State Illinois State University (ISU) is a Public university, public university in Normal, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University, it is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teaching and is reco ...

. As a freshman, he averaged 14.7 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.2 blocks per game. He earned

(OVC) Freshman of the Year and First Team All-OVC honors. On November 26, 2019, Muszynski posted a career-high 30 points, seven rebounds and four blocks in an 87–82 loss to

Eastern Washington Eastern Washington is the region of the U.S. state of Washington located east of the Cascade Range. It contains the city of Spokane (the second largest city in the state), the Tri-Cities, the Columbia River and the Grand Coulee Dam, the Hanfor ...

. On January 4, 2020, he recorded 25 points, 16 rebounds and five assists in an 87–55 win against

Eastern Illinois Eastern Illinois University is a public university in Charleston, Illinois. Established in 1895 as the Eastern Illinois State Normal School, a teacher's college offering a two-year degree, Eastern Illinois University gradually expanded into a co ...

. Muszynski helped Belmont win the 2020 OVC tournament and was named MVP after posting 25 points and eight rebounds against

Murray State Murray State University (MSU) is a public university in Murray, Kentucky. In addition to the main campus in Calloway County in southwestern Kentucky, Murray State operates extended campuses offering upper level and graduate courses in Paducah, ...

in the final. He averaged 15.3 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game as a sophomore, repeating on the First Team All-OVC. In his junior season opener against

Howard Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also probabl ...

on November 26, Muszynski became Belmont's

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

career blocks leader. As a junior, he averaged 15 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game, earning First Team All-OVC honors for a third straight year. Muszynski was again named to the First Team All-OVC as a senior.

Professional career

On August 5, 2022, he has signed with

of the

(PLK). On 30 November 2022 he was released.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;", Belmont , style="text-align:center;" colspan="11",

Redshirt , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;", Belmont , , 32 , , 32 , , 24.9 , , .604 , , .364 , , .779 , , 5.8 , , 2.7 , , .6 , , 2.2 , , 14.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;", Belmont , , 33 , , 32 , , 24.8 , , .596 , , .327 , , .660 , , 6.4 , , 1.7 , , .4 , , 1.6 , , 15.3 , - , 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;", Belmont , , 27 , , 27 , , 25.0 , , .586 , , .077 , , .734 , , 5.6 , , 1.7 , , .2 , , 1.6 , , 15.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , , 92 , , 91 , , 24.9 , , .596 , , .298 , , .723 , , 5.9 , , 2.0 , , .4 , , 1.8 , , 15.0

References

External links

Belmont Bruins bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muszynski, Nick 1998 births Living people American men's basketball players Astoria Bydgoszcz players Basketball players from Ohio Belmont Bruins men's basketball players Centers (basketball) People from Pickerington, Ohio