R. J. Cole (born August 24, 1999) 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 Rytas Vilnius of the LKL. 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

Howard Bison The Howard Bison and Lady Bison are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Howard University, located in Washington, D.C. The Bison compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s and Division I Footba ...

and the

UConn Huskies The UConn Huskies (or Connecticut Huskies) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Connecticut, located in Storrs. The school is a member of the NCAA's Division I and the Big East Conference. The university's fo ...

Early life and high school career

Cole attended basketball powerhouse St. Anthony High School. He was ranked a three-star prospect and maintained a 4.0 grade point average. Cole turned down offers from

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

and

Monmouth Monmouth ( , ; cy, Trefynwy meaning "town on the Monnow") is a town and community in Wales. It is situated where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. Monmouth is northeast of Cardiff, and west of London. I ...

to play at

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 ...

, where he believed he could make an immediate impact.

College career

As a freshman at Howard, Cole averaged 23.7 points per game and 6.2 assists per game, leading the

Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) is a collegiate athletic conference whose full members are historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southeastern and the Mid-Atlantic United States. It participates in the National C ...

in both categories. He scored 42 against

UNC Wilmington The University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW or UNC Wilmington) is a public research university in Wilmington, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina System and enrolls 17,499 undergraduate and graduate students eac ...

on December 22, 2017; one of his five games in excess of 30 points. Cole was named to the First Team All-MEAC and MEAC Rookie of the Year. As a sophomore, Cole was named MEAC Player of the Week on five occasions. He had a season-high 36 points in the regular-season finale versus

Norfolk State Norfolk State University (NSU) is a public historically black university in Norfolk, Virginia. It is a member of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and Virginia High-Tech Partnership. History The institution was founded on September 18, 1935 ...

. Cole led the MEAC in scoring with 21.4 points per game. He was named the MEAC Player of the Year and was an

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

Honorable Mention All-American. Cole led Howard to the

College Basketball Invitational The College Basketball Invitational (CBI) is a men's college basketball tournament created in 2007 by The Gazelle Group. The inaugural tournament occurred after the conclusion of the 2007–08 men's college basketball regular season. The CBI s ...

, where the team fell to

Coastal Carolina Coastal Carolina University (CCU or Coastal) is a public university in Conway, South Carolina. Founded in 1954 as Coastal Carolina Junior College, and later joining the University of South Carolina System as USC Coastal Carolina, it became an in ...

despite 14 points, 12 rebounds, 8 assists and 3 steals from Cole. After the season, Cole declared for the

2019 NBA draft The 2019 NBA draft was held on June 20, 2019. It took place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur United States college basketball players and other eligible players, i ...

but did not hire an agent, which left him with the option to withdraw from the draft and return to school for his junior year. After withdrawing from the draft, Cole transferred to the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...

(UConn). He chose UConn over

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

and

Seton Hall Seton Hall University (SHU) is a private Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesan u ...

. As a junior, Cole averaged 12.2 points, 4.3 assists, and three rebounds per game in a complementary role to

James Bouknight James David Bouknight (; born September 18, 2000) is an American professional basketball player for the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the UConn Huskies men's basketball, UConn Husk ...

. On December 21, 2021, Cole reached 2,000 career points in a win against Marquette. He was named to the First Team All-Big East.

Professional career

On July 22, 2022, Cole signed his first professional contract with Greek club

Lavrio Laurium or Lavrio ( ell, Λαύριο; grc, Λαύρειον (later ); before early 11th century BC: Θορικός ''Thorikos''; from Middle Ages until 1908: Εργαστήρια ''Ergastiria'') is a town in southeastern part of Attica, Greec ...

. In 20 league games, he averaged 13.8 points, 3.1 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 1 steal, playing around 30 minutes per contest. On March 31, 2023, Cole moved to German club

Löwen Braunschweig Löwen, literally meaning "lions", may refer to: Places *Leuven or , the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium *Lewin Brzeski or , a town in Brzeg County, Opole Voivodeship, Poland Sports *Fra ...

for the rest of the season.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

, 33 , , 32 , , 37.9 , , .394 , , .359 , , .770 , , 3.9 , , 6.1 , , 1.7 , , .0 , , 23.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, 34 , , 33 , , 35.6 , , .415 , , .387 , , .819 , , 4.1 , , 6.4 , , 1.9 , , .0 , , 21.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

UConn The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Ha ...

, 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;",

, 23 , , 21 , , 31.1 , , .387 , , .386 , , .770 , , 3.0 , , 4.3 , , 1.2 , , .0 , , 12.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

, 33 , , 33 , , 33.5 , , .415 , , .339 , , .858 , , 3.4 , , 4.1 , , 1.1 , , .1 , , 15.8 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 123 , , 119 , , 34.8 , , .404 , , .366 , , .804 , , 3.7 , , 5.3 , , 1.5 , , .0 , , 18.8

References

External links

UConn Huskies bioHoward Bison bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, R. J. 1999 births Living people American men's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Germany American expatriate basketball people in Greece Basketball players from Jersey City, New Jersey Basketball Löwen Braunschweig players Howard Bison men's basketball players Lavrio B.C. players Point guards Shooting guards UConn Huskies men's basketball players