Kevin Freeman (born March 3, 1978) is a retired American

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 and currently an assistant coach for 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 f ...

. Freeman played professionally for eleven years in several countries and as a collegian was a starter on UConn's first NCAA championship team.

College career

Freeman, a 6' 7"

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to centers. When on offense, they typically play with their ba ...

from

Paterson Catholic High School Paterson Catholic Regional High School was a private four year Catholic high school located in Paterson, New Jersey that served students from 9th through 12th grade. It was under the jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Paterson. Due ...

Paterson, New Jersey Paterson ( ) is the largest city in and the county seat of Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

coach

Jim Calhoun James A. Calhoun (born May 10, 1942) is a longtime college basketball coach. He is best known for his tenure as head coach of the University of Connecticut (UConn) men's basketball team. His teams won three NCAA national championships (1999, 20 ...

. He started for the majority of his four years there. As a junior in the

1998–99 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 1998–99 NCAA Division I men's basketball season concluded in the 64-team 1999 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament whose finals were held at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Connecticut Huskies earned their first nat ...

, Freeman averaged a career-high 12.2 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. He led the Huskies to a Big East Conference tournament championship, and was named the tournament Most Valuable Player. Connecticut then went on to win the 1999 NCAA basketball tournament, with Freeman gaining All-West Regional honors to get the Huskies to the Final Four. Following the Huskies' championship year, Freeman was named to the USA men's basketball team at the 1999

World University Games The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and " Olympiad". The Universiade is referred ...

Palma de Mallorca Palma (; ; also known as ''Palma de Mallorca'', officially between 1983–88, 2006–08, and 2012–16) is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is situated on the south coast of Mallorca ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

. He played in all eight contests, averaging 8.0 points and 4.4 rebounds per game as Team USA won the Gold Medal. Freeman returned to Storrs as Husky co-captain for his senior season, averaging 11.0 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. Kevin Freeman left UConn with 1,476 points and 913 rebounds, and graduated as the school's all-time leader in games played with 140.

Professional career

Following the close of his college career, Freeman began a far-reaching professional career that led him to play in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

, Spain,

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

and

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

. Some of his best work came in the National Basketball League of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

as a member of the

Brisbane Bullets The Brisbane Bullets are an Australian professional men's basketball team in the National Basketball League (NBL) based in Brisbane, Queensland. They competed from 1979 to 2008, and returned to the league in 2016. Brisbane were one of ten NBL f ...

. Freeman was a big scorer in the league, including finishing top five in scoring for the 2003–04 season (22.3 points per game).

Coaching career

After retiring from basketball, Freeman turned to coaching. He was named to Jim Calhoun's staff just prior to the 2011–12 season as Assistant Director of Basketball Operations. On June 4, 2018, Penn State Head Coach

Patrick Chambers Patrick Brian Chambers (born December 13, 1970) is an American college basketball coach and is the current head coach at Florida Gulf Coast University. He is formerly the head men's basketball coach at Penn State and Boston University. Biography ...

announced that Freeman was joining the staff as an assistant coach. On September 2, 2020 head coach Dan Hurley announced that Kevin Freeman was coming home to be an assistant basketball coach for the UConn Huskies men's basketball program.

References

External links