Yuat Kuol Alok (born 1 January 1997) is a South Sudanese-New Zealand 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 Al Hilal of the Libyan League. 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 ...

in the United States for four different colleges between 2016 and 2022. He made his professional debut in 2022 in Cyprus with

Enosis Neon Paralimni Enosis Neon Paralimni Football Club ( el, Ένωση Νέων Παραλιμνίου, ''Enosi Neon Paralimniou'', "Youth Union of Paralimni"), commonly referred to as ENP, is a Cypriot football team from Paralimni. Currently playing in the firs ...

Early life and career

Alok was born in

Kakuma Kakuma is a town in northwestern Turkana County, Kenya. It is the site of a UNHCR refugee camp, established in 1992. The population of Kakuma town was 60,000 in 2014, having grown from around 8,000 in 1990. In 1991, the camp was established to hos ...

, Kenya. His mother, Aluel Deng, fled South Sudan during the

Second Sudanese Civil War The Second Sudanese Civil War was a conflict from 1983 to 2005 between the central Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army. It was largely a continuation of the First Sudanese Civil War of 1955 to 1972. Although it originate ...

. She arrived at a refugee camp in Kakuma in 1996, where Alok was born a few months later. The family later moved into a house built of mud in a small village in Southern Kenya near the Maasai tribe with his grandmother. There he played

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 ...

with friends and was homeschooled by his mother. She taught him Swahili, Arabic, Dinka and Turkana. Violence and conflicts forced them back into refugee camps across the country, and at one point a refugee camp in Ethiopia. In 2005, Alok and his family moved to New Zealand. They initially lived in a resettlement camp in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

. At age 14, Alok had a growth spurt from 6-foot-5 to 6-foot-10 and he subsequently started playing basketball. A year later, he joined the

New Zealand Breakers The New Zealand Breakers (also known as the Sky Sport Breakers for sponsorship reasons) are a New Zealand professional basketball team based in Auckland. The Breakers compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at ...

academy. He attended

Rangitoto College Rangitoto College is a state coeducational secondary school, located on the North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand. Serving years 9 to 13, Rangitoto has a school roll of as of making it the largest "brick-and-mortar" school in New Zealand (on ...

in Auckland. In August 2014, Alok signed with the New Zealand Breakers of the Australian National Basketball League (NBL) as a development player for the 2014–15 season. He appeared in two games for the Breakers in January 2015 and was a member of the team's

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

victory in March 2015. For the 2015–16 school year, Alok moved to the United States to attend Impact Academy in

Sarasota, Florida Sarasota () is a city in Sarasota County on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is renowned for its cultural and environmental amenities, beaches, resorts, and the Sarasota School of Architecture. The city is located in the sout ...

College career

As a freshman and sophomore in 2016–17 and 2017–18, Alok played

Chipola College Chipola College is a public college in Marianna, Florida. It is part of the Florida College System. History The school was founded in 1947 as Chipola Junior College; its name was changed in 2003 after the college developed several bachelor's ...

, where he was a second-team All-

Panhandle Conference The Panhandle Conference is a conference within the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region 8. The conference consists of four state colleges and one community college located in Florida. Members Member institutions are Chipo ...

selection both years. As a sophomore, he averaged 12.3 points and 7.0 rebounds per game. In 2018, Alok transferred to

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 ...

program

TCU TCU may stand for: Education * Tanzania Commission for Universities, regulatory body for Universities in Tanzania * Texas Christian University, a private university in Fort Worth, Texas ** TCU Horned Frogs, the athletic programs of the school * Tok ...

, choosing the Horned Frogs over Baylor,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

and

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

. He played 10 games for TCU to begin the 2018–19 season, averaging 3.3 points and 2.5 rebounds in 13.1 minutes per game, before suffering a season-ending hand injury. In January 2019, Alok transferred to

UCF The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University ...

. He never played a game for the Knights after he was ruled ineligible due to academic reasons. In January 2020, Alok transferred to

Southern Utah Southern Utah University (SUU) is a public university in Cedar City, Utah. Founded in 1897 as a normal school, Southern Utah University now graduates over 1,800 students each year with baccalaureate and graduate degrees from its six colleges. ...

. He never played in a game for the Thunderbirds and eventually made his way to

Coppin State Coppin State University (Coppin) is a public historically black university in Baltimore, Maryland. It is part of the University System of Maryland and a member of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. In terms of demographics, the Coppin State stu ...

, playing 11 games in

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 ...

. He was named to the 2021

MEAC 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 ...

All-Tournament Team. In July 2021, Alok joined

New Mexico State New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public land-grant research university based primarily in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest public institution of higher education in New Mexico and one of the state's tw ...

as a graduate transfer. In 2021–22, he saw time in 30 of the team's 34 contests, making six appearances in the starting lineup. He averaged 4.7 points and 1.7 rebounds in 10.0 minutes per game.

Professional career

Alok made his professional debut in the 2022–23 season with

of the

Cypriot League The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

. In seven games between 8 October and 26 November, he averaged 11.0 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game. For the 2023–24 season, Alok joined

KK Alkar Košarkaški klub Alkar ( en, Alkar Basketball Club), commonly referred to as KK Alkar or simply Alkar, is a men's professional basketball club based in Sinj, Croatia. The club competes in the Croatian League. History The club was founded in 195 ...

of the Croatian League. In 29 games, he averaged 11.6 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. In May 2024, Alok joined Al Hilal of the Libyan League.

National team

In 2013, Alok played for

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

at the FIBA Oceania U16 Championship.

Personal life

Alok is a cousin of fellow basketball players, Lat Mayen and Kouat Noi.

References

External links

Chipola College bioUCF Knights bioCoppin State Eagles bioNew Mexico State Aggies bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alok, Yuat 1997 births Living people Basketball players from Auckland Centers (basketball) Chipola Indians men's basketball players Coppin State Eagles men's basketball players KK Alkar players New Mexico State Aggies men's basketball players New Zealand Breakers players New Zealand expatriate basketball people in the United States New Zealand men's basketball players New Zealand people of South Sudanese descent Power forwards South Sudanese men's basketball players South Sudanese emigrants to New Zealand South Sudanese expatriate basketball people in the United States TCU Horned Frogs men's basketball players