André Jael Curbelo Rodríguez (born October 13, 2001) is a Puerto Rican 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 (appro ...

player for

Atléticos de San Germán Atléticos de San Germán is a basketball club of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN) based in San Germán, Puerto Rico. Founded in the 1930s after the amalgamation of the old San Germán team and the Farmacia Martín team, the team is one of ...

of the

Baloncesto Superior Nacional The Baloncesto Superior Nacional, abbreviated as BSN, is the first-tier-level professional men's basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Puerto Rico. It was founded in 1929 and is organized by the Puerto Rican Basketball Federation. T ...

(BSN). He previously played college basketball for the

Southern Miss Golden Eagles The Southern Miss Golden Eagles and Lady Eagles (also known as Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles and Lady Eagles) are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of Southern Mississippi (USM), located in Hattiesburg, Miss ...

, the

Illinois Fighting Illini The Illinois Fighting Illini () are the College athletics, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The university offers 10 men's and 11 women's Varsity team, varsity sports. The university op ...

and

St. John's Red Storm The St. John's Red Storm is the nickname used for the 17 varsity athletic programs of St. John's University, in the U.S. state of New York. St. John's 17 NCAA Division I teams compete in the Big East Conference, with the exception of the fencin ...

. Curbelo represents the Puerto Rican national team in international tournaments. Listed at and , he plays the

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

position.

High school career

Curbelo grew up in

Vega Baja, Puerto Rico Vega Baja () is a Vega Baja barrio-pueblo, town and Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality located on the coast of north central Puerto Rico. It is north of Morovis, Puerto Rico, Morovis, east of Manatí, Puerto Rico, Manatí, and west of V ...

and started playing basketball at age four. He moved to the New York area when he was 13 years old. Curbelo decided to attend

Long Island Lutheran Middle and High School Long Island Lutheran Middle and High School (commonly known as LuHi) is a Christian school, Christian college University-preparatory school, preparatory school in Brookville, New York, United States. It was founded and built in 1960 on a estate ...

Brookville, New York Brookville is a village located within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 2,939 at the time of the 2020 census. History The geographic Village of Broo ...

after being suggested by a family friend. He spoke little English and struggled academically as a freshman, before gradually adjusting and improving his grades. In his junior season, Curbelo averaged 15.5 points, eight rebounds, nine assists and four steals per game and was named ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is a daily newspaper in the United States primarily serving Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI" ...

'' All-Long Island Player of the Year. He led Long Island Lutheran to the Class AA title at the New York State Federation Tournament of Champions in 2019, his school's first-ever Class AA Federation championship after their seven previous Federation championships in classes A, B and C. In April 2019, Curbelo played for the World Select Team at the

Nike Hoop Summit The Nike Hoop Summit is an international basketball all-star game sponsored by Nike, Inc., Nike, held once a year, which features the USA Basketball Men's Junior Select Team against a World Select Team of international players. The players demons ...

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

Recruiting

Curbelo was considered a four-star recruit, according to major recruiting services. On November 1, 2019, he committed to playing

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

over offers from

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

and

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

, among others. Curbelo was recruited to Illinois by assistant coach

Orlando Antigua Orlando Radhames Antigua Fernández (born February 20, 1973), nicknamed "Hurricane", is a Dominican-American basketball coach and former player who is currently the associate head coach at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He was also an ...

College career

Illinois (2020–2022)

2020–21 season

Curbelo joined the Illinois basketball team as a freshman during the 2020–21 season. He debuted against North Carolina A&T, playing 19 minutes off the bench and tallying 8 points and 6 assists while Illinois won 122–60. Against Chicago State, Curbelo scored a career-high 18 points while securing 7 rebounds in the Illini's 97–38 win. During a

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1 ...

regular season matchup against

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

, Curbelo registered a 10-point, 12-rebound

double-double In basketball, a double-double is a single-game performance in which a player accumulates ten or more in two of the following five statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. The first "double" in the ter ...

, the first of his career. In their final regular season game against

Ohio State The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one of the largest universities by enrollme ...

, Curbelo played 29 minutes and set a new career-high with 19 points. Curbelo was a significant piece off the bench during the 2021 Big Ten tournament championship run, averaging 26 minutes, 11.7 points, and 5 rebounds. In their final two games during the NCAA tournament, Curbelo averaged 8.5 points and 6 assists. During his freshman season, Curbelo averaged 9.1 points, 4.2 assists, and 4 rebounds per game. He was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team and was awarded the Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year Award.

2021–22 season

Curbelo missed his sophomore season opener against Jackson State due to a

concussion A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a head injury that temporarily affects brain functioning. Symptoms may include headache, dizziness, difficulty with thinking and concentration, sleep disturbances, a brief ...

. Against

Kansas State Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public inst ...

, Curbelo played limited minutes and then missed several games due to continued head trauma. Curbelo played 19 games during the season averaging 19.3 minutes and 7.5 points per game. On March 28, 2022, he announced that he had decided to leave Illinois and enter his name into the

NCAA transfer portal The NCAA transfer portal is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) application, database, and compliance tool created to manage and facilitate the process for student athletes seeking to transfer between member institutions. It is i ...

St. John's (2022–2023)

On April 15, 2022, Curbelo announced that he had committed to St. John's.

Southern Miss (2023–2025)

After a lackluster season at St. John's, Curbelo transferred again, this time to Southern Miss. Because this was his second transfer and without a degree, Curbelo was unable to play until the NCAA approved his eligibility waiver. This became a moot point, however, when the NCAA's transfer rule was suspended for the 23–24 season, allowing Curbelo to play. He was dismissed from the Golden Eagles on February 22, 2025.

National team career

In 2016, Curbelo won a gold medal with Puerto Rico at the

Centrobasket The Centrobasket is a FIBA-sponsored international basketball tournament where national teams from Central America and the Caribbean participate. These countries make up the Central American and Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CONCENCABA). Th ...

Under-15 Championship in

Patillas, Puerto Rico Patillas (, ) is a beach town and municipality of Puerto Rico located in the southeastern coast, south of San Lorenzo; west of Yabucoa and Maunabo; and east of Guayama and Arroyo. It is spread over 15 barrios and Patillas Pueblo (the downto ...

after averaging 16.5 points, seven rebounds and 6.5 assists per game. At the

2017 FIBA Under-16 Americas Championship The 2017 FIBA Under-16 Americas Championship was the men's international basketball competition that was held in Formosa, Argentina from 14–18 June 2017. The successfully defended their title against , 111–60, in the rematch of the Finals ...

Formosa, Argentina Formosa () is the capital city of the Argentine province of Formosa, on the banks of the Paraguay River, opposite the Paraguayan town of Alberdi, about north from Buenos Aires, on National Route 11. The city has a population of about 234, ...

, he averaged a tournament-leading 21.8 points, seven rebounds, 3.2 assists and 3.5 steals per game and won a bronze medal. Curbelo competed at the 2018 FIBA Under-17 World Cup in Argentina, where he averaged 13.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and a tournament-high 5.9 assists per game and led his team to another bronze medal. He averaged 11.1 points and 5.6 assists per game at the 2019 FIBA Under-19 World Cup in

Heraklion Heraklion or Herakleion ( ; , , ), sometimes Iraklion, is the largest city and the administrative capital city, capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion (regional unit), Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in G ...

, Greece as Puerto Rico finished in sixth place.

Career statistics

College

, - , 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 ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 0 , , 21.5 , , .498 , , .161 , , .728 , , 4.0 , , 4.2 , , .9 , , .1 , , 9.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

, 19 , , 4 , , 19.3 , , .329 , , .176 , , .745 , , 3.1 , , 3.2 , , .7 , , .1 , , 7.5 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2022–23 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 ...

, style="text-align:left;", St. John's , 26 , , 16 , , 27.3 , , .424 , , .294 , , .705 , , 2.8 , , 4.3 , , 2.0 , , .2 , , 9.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2023–24 , style="text-align:left;", Southern Miss , 12 , , 9 , , 27.0 , , .455 , , .250 , , .667 , , 4.3 , , 3.8 , , 1.6 , , .0 , , 13.6 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 88 , , 29 , , 23.5 , , .432 , , .218 , , .712 , , 3.5 , , 3.9 , , 1.3 , , .1 , , 9.5

Personal life

Curbelo's father, Joel, played professional basketball for 18 years and represented Puerto Rico at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

. His mother, Joann Rodríguez, played for the Puerto Rico women's national handball team. Curbelo's aunt played basketball for the Puerto Rico women's national team.

References

External links

Illinois Fighting Illini bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Curbelo, Andre 2001 births Living people Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball players Puerto Rican men's basketball players Sportspeople from Vega Baja, Puerto Rico Point guards Southern Miss Golden Eagles basketball players St. John's Red Storm men's basketball players 21st-century American sportsmen