Zisis Sarikopoulos (alternate spelling: Zissis) (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: Ζήσης Σαρικόπουλος; born March 31, 1990, in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, Greece) is a Greek 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

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 ...

of the

Greek A2 Basket League The Greek A2 Basket League ( el, Ελληνική Α2 Μπάσκετ Λιγκ, link=no), is a professional basketball league in Greece. It is the 2nd-tier level of pro competition, among clubs in the country. It is organized by the Hellenic Baske ...

. He is tall, and he plays at the

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

position. His nickname is "Big Z".

Early years

Sarikopoulos began playing basketball with the youth teams of the Greek club

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

. He played at the 2007

Jordan Brand Classic The Jordan Brand Classic is a high school All-Star basketball game played annually in April. The game's rosters feature the best and most highly recruited high school boys in the senior class including alumns like Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony, Bl ...

International game.

College career

Sarikopoulos 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 ...

at UAB, with the

UAB Blazers The UAB Blazers are the varsity intercollegiate athletic programs that represent the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). The school is one of the fourteen member institutions of Conference USA (C-USA) and participates in Division I of th ...

, and at

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

, with the

Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tree ...

. He left Ohio State early, to play

pro Pro is an abbreviation meaning "professional". Pro, PRO or variants thereof may also refer to: People * Miguel Pro (1891–1927), Mexican priest * Pro Hart (1928–2006), Australian painter * Mlungisi Mdluli (born 1980), South African retired f ...

basketball in Greece. Sarikopoulos averaged 1.35 points per game in his

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.

Professional career

In 2010, Sarikopoulos began his professional career with the Greek League club

Panionios Panionios G.S.S. Football Club (Greek: ΠΑΕ Πανιώνιος Γ.Σ.Σ.), the ''Pan- Ionian Gymnastics Club of Smyrna'' (Πανιώνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Σμύρνης, ''Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis'') ...

. In 2012, he moved to the Greek club

Aris Aris or ARIS may refer to: People * Aris (surname) Given name * Aris Alexandrou, Greek writer * Aris Brimanis, ice hockey player * Aris Christofellis, Greek male soprano * Aris Gavelas, Greek sprinter * Aris Howard, Former President of the Jama ...

. In 2014, he joined the Greek club

AEK Athens A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greece, Greek multi-sport club based in Nea ...

. On July 17, 2016, Sarikopoulos signed with the Greek team Promitheas Patras. He returned to Panionios for the 2017–18 season. On August 22, 2018, Sarikopoulos signed with the Belarusian team Tsmoki-Minsk. On August 30, 2019, he signed with PAOK of the

Greek Basket League The Greek Basket League (GBL), often also referred to as the Greek A1 Basketball League, or Greek Basketball Championship (originally called Panhellenic Basketball Championship), and also known as the Stoiximan Basket League for sponsorship reaso ...

. On March 11, 2021, he signed with Iraklis of the

. On October 5, 2021, he signed with

Al Sadd Al Sadd Sports Club ( ar, نادي السد الرياضي, lit=Dam Sports Club) is a Qatari sports club based in the Al Sadd district of the city of Doha. It is best known for its association football team, which competes in the ...

of the Qatari Basketball League (QBL). On November 10, 2022, Sarikopoulos returned to PAOK for the rest of the season. He left the club after appearing in only two games and instead joined

Karditsa Karditsa ( el, Καρδίτσα ) is a city in western Thessaly in mainland Greece. The city of Karditsa is the capital of Karditsa regional unit of region of Thessaly. Inhabitation is attested from 9000 BC. Karditsa ls linked with GR-30, the ...

. In 12 league games, he averaged 1.8 points and 2.6 rebounds in 9 minutes per contest.

National team career

Sarikopoulos was a member of the Greek junior national teams. With the junior national teams of Greece, he played at the following tournaments: the 2005 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship, the 2006 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship, the

2007 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship The 2007 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship was an international basketball competition held in Spain in 2007. Final ranking 1. 2. Greece 3. Latvia 4. Lithuania 5. Spain 6. France 7. Croatia 8. Turkey 9. Germany 10. Russia 1 ...

, the

2008 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship The 2008 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship was an international basketball competition held in Greece from July 25, 2008 until August 3. The hosts, Greeks, emerged as the champions after beating the Lithuanians in the final, 57–50 to clinch th ...

the

2009 FIBA Under-19 World Championship The 2009 FIBA Under-19 World Championship (Maori: 2009 FIBA I-Raro I Te 19 Tau Toa o Te Ao) was the 9th edition of the FIBA U19 World Championship, the biennial international men's youth basketball championship contested by the U19 national team ...

, the

2009 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship The 2009 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship was the 12th edition of the FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship. The cities of Rhodes and Ialysos, in Greece, hosted the tournament. Greece won their second title. Israel and Belgium were relegated to Divis ...

, and the

2010 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship The 2010 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship was the 13th edition of the FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship. The cities of Zadar, Crikvenica and Makarska, in Croatia, hosted the tournament. France won their first title. Netherlands and the Czech Rep ...

. In 2012, he was invited to practice with the senior men's

Greek national basketball team The Greece men's national basketball team ( el, Eθνική Oμάδα Καλαθοσφαίρισης Ελλάδος) represents Greece in international basketball. They are controlled by the Hellenic Basketball Federation, the governing body for ...

, for the first time. In 2015, he was invited as a training camp player of the Greek senior men's national team for the first time.

Career statistics

Domestic Leagues

Regular season

, - , 2010–11 , style="text-align:left;",

, align=left , GBL , 16 , , 4.4 , , .437 , , .000 , , .250 , , 0.8 , , 0.0 , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 0.9 , - , 2011–12 , style="text-align:left;",

, align=left , GBL , 21 , , 7.4 , , .733 , , .000 , , .550 , , 1.2 , , 0.1 , , 0.3 , , 0.2 , , 3.6 , - , 2012–13 , style="text-align:left;",

, align=left , GBL , 22 , , 13.3 , , .723 , , .000 , , .500 , , 3.2 , , 0.5 , , 0.3 , , 0.5 , , 4.7 , - , 2013–14 , style="text-align:left;",

, align=left , GBL , 17 , , 12.3 , , .564 , , .000 , , .451 , , 3.8 , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 0.7 , , 4.9 , - , 2014–15 , style="text-align:left;",

AEK A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelf ...

, align=left , GBL , 22 , , 17.3 , , .666 , , .000 , , .511 , , 4.7 , , 0.9 , , 0.3 , , 0.6 , , 6.6 , - , 2015–16 , style="text-align:left;",

, align=left , GBL , 15 , , 8.5 , , .666 , , .000 , , .933 , , 2.7 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 0.4 , , 3.1 , - , 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;", Promitheas , align=left , GBL , 22 , , 13.4 , , .648 , , .000 , , .512 , , 3.2 , , 0.3 , , 0.2 , , 0.3 , , 5.1 , - , 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

, align=left , GBL , 26 , , 20.5 , , .701 , , .000 , , .542 , , 4.6 , , 0.7 , , 0.4 , , 0.5 , , 9.4 , - , 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;", Tsmoki-Minsk , align=left ,

VTB VTB Bank (; formerly known as ''Vneshtorgbank'', , lit. 'International Trade Bank') is a Russian majority state-owned bank headquartered in various federal districts of Russia; its legal address is registered in St. Petersburg; as of 2022 ...

, 26 , , 24.4 , , .614 , , .000 , , .642 , , 6.7 , , 1.2 , , 0.8 , , 0.9 , , 10.1 , - , 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;", PAOK , align=left , GBL , 20 , , 16.5 , , .535 , , .000 , , .742 , , 5.3 , , 0.9 , , 0.3 , , 0.4 , , 5.8 , - ,

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;", Iraklis , align=left , GBL , 2 , , 7.5 , , .333 , , .000 , , .000 , , 1.0 , , 0.5 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 1.0 , - , 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

, align=left , QBL , 29 , , 35.7 , , .673 , , .667 , , .593 , , 14.5 , , 2.2 , , 0.7 , , 1.1 , , 17.7 , -

Playoffs

, - , 2011–12 , style="text-align:left;",

, align=left , GBL , 9 , , 13.4 , , .735 , , .000 , , .312 , , 3.0 , , 0.5 , , 1.0 , , 1.0 , , 6.1 , - , 2012–13 , style="text-align:left;",

, align=left , GBL , 3 , , 7.3 , , 1.000 , , .000 , , .666 , , 1.3 , , 0.0 , , 0.3 , , 0.0 , , 2.0 , - , 2013–14 , style="text-align:left;",

, align=left , GBL , 2 , , 12.4 , , .333 , , .000 , , .833 , , 3.5 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 3.5 , - , 2014–15 , style="text-align:left;",

, align=left , GBL , 3 , , 14.0 , , .600 , , .000 , , .400 , , 6.0 , , 0.3 , , 0.6 , , 0.0 , , 4.6 , - , 2015–16 , style="text-align:left;",

, align=left , GBL , 6 , , 5.3 , , .500 , , .000 , , .000 , , 1.7 , , 0.2 , , 0.2 , , 0.0 , , 0.3 , -

References

External links

EuroCup profileEurobasket.com profileGreek Basket League profile

Hellenic Federation profile

ESPN profileVTB United League
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarikopoulos, Zisis 1990 births Living people AEK B.C. players Aris B.C. players ASK Karditsas B.C. players BC Tsmoki-Minsk players Centers (basketball) Greek Basket League players Greek expatriate basketball people in the United States Greek men's basketball players Iraklis Thessaloniki B.C. players Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball players Panionios B.C. players P.A.O.K. BC players Promitheas Patras B.C. players UAB Blazers men's basketball players Basketball players from Athens