Venkatesha "Venky" Jois (born 7 July 1993) is an Australian 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 the

Helios Suns The Helios Suns are a men's professional basketball club based in Domžale, Slovenia. The club competes in the Slovenian First League and the ABA League Second Division. They have won the national league in the 2006–07 and 2015–16 seasons. Sin ...

of the Slovenian League. He played four years of college basketball for Eastern Washington before playing professionally in Estonia, Croatia, Japan, Serbia and Germany.

Early life

Jois was born in the

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

suburb of

Upper Ferntree Gully Upper Ferntree Gully is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 32 km east of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Knox and Shire of Yarra Ranges L ...

to an Indian father and an Australian mother. He attended

Box Hill High School Box Hill High School is a co-educational Public school (government funded), public high school, secondary school located on the corner of Middleborough Road and Maroondah Highway, Whitehorse Road in the eastern suburb of Box Hill, Victoria, Box Hi ...

, where he participated in

, swimming,

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

, cross country and

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

. He graduated in 2011. In 2011 and 2012, he played in the

SEABL The South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL) was an Australian semi-professional basketball league. The league comprised both a men's and women's competition and was run by the country's governing body, Basketball Australia. The league wa ...

for the Dandenong Rangers, winning SEABL Youth Player of the Year honours in his first season after averaging 9.3 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game.

College career

Jois played four years of college basketball for Eastern Washington, winning Big Sky Freshman of the Year honours in 2012–13. He also garnered All-Big Sky honorable mention accolades in his first two seasons. As a junior and senior, he earned first-team All-Big Sky honours. He also earned All-Tournament team honours after helping Eastern Washington win the 2015 Big Sky tournament. In said season, Jois led the Eagles in both rebounds and blocks, and was second on the team in scoring. As a result of them winning the Big Sky tournament, they were selected as a participant in the 2015 NCAA tournament. EWU was seeded as a #13 seed where they faced off against the #4 seeded

Georgetown Hoyas The Georgetown Hoyas are the collegiate athletics teams that officially represent Georgetown University, located in Washington, D.C. Georgetown's athletics department fields 23 men's and women's varsity level teams and competes at the National C ...

in the first round, within the South Regional. Jois and the Eagles put up a valiant effort, but ultimately fell to Hoyas in a 10–point ballgame, 74–84, with Jois leading the team in rebounds and coming second in points. In 122 career games, Jois made 120 starts and averaged 14.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.0 steals and 2.0 blocks in 32.2 minutes per game.

Professional career

Jois spent his first professional season in Estonia, playing for Tartu Ülikooli during the 2016–17 season. He then split the 2017–18 season between Vrijednosnice Osijek in Croatia and Shiga Lakestars in Japan. After starting the 2018–19 season in Germany with Rasta Vechta, he left in November 2018. On 26 January 2019, he signed with Melbourne United for the rest of the

2018–19 NBL season The 2018–19 NBL season was the 41st season of the National Basketball League since its establishment in 1979. A total of eight teams have contested the league. The regular season had been played between October 2018 and February 2019, followed ...

. On 3 April 2019, Jois signed with the

Super City Rangers The Super City Rangers were a New Zealand basketball team based in Auckland. The Rangers competed in the National Basketball League (NBL) and played their home games across multiple venues in Auckland. Team history The Waitakere Rangers debut ...

for the

2019 New Zealand NBL season The 2019 NBL season was the 38th season of the National Basketball League. The competition increased to nine teams in 2019 with the Southern Huskies joining the league for the first time, marking the first time ever that an Australian team has ...

. On 2 June 2019, he suffered a severe hand injury in a game against the

Southern Huskies The Auckland Tuatara are a semi-professional basketball team based in Auckland, New Zealand. The Tuatara compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Eventfinda Stadium. Founded in Tasmania in 2019 as the Southe ...

. On 29 June 2019, he parted ways with the Rangers. In October 2019, Jois joined the Memphis Hustle of the

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 ...

. He missed two months with an undisclosed injury. Jois averaged 5.9 points and 3.9 rebounds in 12.3 minutes per game in 18 games. In February 2021, Jois joined

Pirot Pirot ( sr-cyr, Пирот) is a city and the administrative center of the Pirot District in southeastern Serbia. According to 2011 census, the urban area of the city has a population of 38,785, while the population of the city administrative area ...

of the

Basketball League of Serbia The Basketball League of Serbia ( sr, Кошаркашка лига Србије, Košarkaška liga Srbije; abbr. КЛС or KLS), is a top-tier men's professional basketball league in Serbia. Founded in 2006, it is run by the Basketball Federatio ...

. In seven games, he averaged 10.0 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.3 steals per game. On 20 April 2021, Jois signed with the

Cairns Taipans The Cairns Taipans are an Australian professional basketball team based in Cairns, Queensland. The Taipans compete in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at the Cairns Conventio ...

for the remainder of the

2020–21 NBL season The 2020–21 NBL season was the 43rd season of the National Basketball League since its establishment in 1979. A total of nine teams contested in the 2020–21 season. The regular season was played between January and June 2021, followed by a p ...

. Following the NBL season, he joined the Dandenong Rangers of the NBL1 South. In September 2021, Jois signed with the

of Slovenian League.

References

External links

Shiga Lakestars player profileEastern Washington Eagles bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jois, Venky 1993 births Living people Australian expatriate basketball people in Croatia Australian expatriate basketball people in Estonia Australian expatriate basketball people in Germany Australian expatriate basketball people in Japan Australian expatriate basketball people in Serbia Australian expatriate basketball people in New Zealand Australian expatriate basketball people in the United States Australian men's basketball players Australian sportspeople of Indian descent Basketball League of Serbia players Cairns Taipans players Eastern Washington Eagles men's basketball players KK Pirot players Korvpalli Meistriliiga players Melbourne United players Memphis Hustle players Power forwards (basketball) SC Rasta Vechta players Shiga Lakes players Super City Rangers players Tartu Ülikool/Rock players Helios Suns players People from Ferntree Gully, Victoria Basketball players from Melbourne Sportsmen from Victoria (Australia)