Asbjørn Engelhardt Midtgaard (born 20 September 1997) is a Danish 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. He last played for the

Antwerp Giants Antwerp Giants, named Windrose Giants Antwerp for sponsorship reasons, is a Belgian professional basketball club based in Antwerp. Their home arena is Lotto Arena. The club plays in the BNXT League, the highest tier of Belgian basketball. The c ...

of the

BNXT League The BNXT League is a professional basketball league in Belgium and the Netherlands. The league is the first tier in both the Dutch and Belgian system, replacing the Dutch Basketball League, DBL and Pro Basketball League, PBL. The inaugural season ...

. He played

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 the

Wichita State Shockers The Wichita State Shockers are the athletic teams that represent Wichita State University, located in Wichita, Kansas, in intercollegiate sports as a member of the NCAA Division I ranks, primarily competing in the American Athletic Conference (T ...

and the

Grand Canyon Antelopes The Grand Canyon Antelopes (more commonly referred to as the Lopes) are the 20 athletic teams representing Grand Canyon University, located in Phoenix, Arizona. Most of the university's athletic teams compete at the NCAA Division I level in the ...

Early life and career

Midtgaard grew up playing

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, as well as

weightlifting Weightlifting or weight lifting generally refers to physical exercises and sports in which people lift weights, often in the form of dumbbells, barbells or machines. People engage in weightlifting for a variety of different reasons. These can ...

and

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...

. He started playing basketball at age 14, and joined the Hørsholm 79ers of the

Basketligaen The Basketligaen (English: The Basketball League) is the highest professional basketball league in Denmark. The men’s first division was originally founded in 1957. Over the years, the league has undergone several name changes due to sponsorsh ...

, the top professional league in Denmark, three years later. In the 2016–17 season, he averaged 8.6 points and 6.3 rebounds per game and was named Basketligaen Young Player of the Year.

College career

Midtgaard received limited playing time during his three seasons at

Wichita State Wichita State University (WSU) is a public university, public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 ...

. He averaged 2.7 points and 2.6 rebounds per game in his time with the program. For his senior season, he transferred to

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a mile (). The canyon and adjacent rim are contained within Grand Canyon Nati ...

. On 28 November 2020, Midtgaard scored a career-high 20 points in a 94–63 win against Benedictine Mesa. As a senior, Midtgaard averaged 14.2 points, 9.7 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game, and shot an

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

-best 70.7 percent from the field. He received First Team All-

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...

, Newcomer of the Year and All-Defensive Team honors.

Professional career

After going undrafted in the

2021 NBA draft The 2021 NBA draft, the 75th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual NBA draft, draft, was held on July 29, 2021, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. The NBA draft returned to Brooklyn after 2020 NBA draft, the pre ...

, Midtgaard signed with the

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NB ...

for the

2021 NBA Summer League The 2021 NBA Summer League was an off-season competition held by the National Basketball Association (NBA) at the Thomas and Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, Nevada on the campus of University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The summer league c ...

. He became the first Grand Canyon player since the program entered the NCAA Division I to be invited to the Summer League. On 16 August 2021, Midtgaard signed his first professional contract with

ZZ Leiden ZZ Leiden Basketball, also known as Zorg en Zekerheid Leiden, is a professional basketball club based in Leiden, Netherlands. The club plays in the BNXT League, the domestic first tier league. Their home games are played at Sportcomplex 1574. Z ...

of the

. He was nominated for the BNXT League Most Valuable Player award and ended third in voting. Midtgaard earned a spot in the All-

Dream Team. On 24 June 2022 he signed a deal with the Crailsheim Merlins of the German

Basketball Bundesliga The Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) (English language: ''Federal Basketball League''), for sponsorship reasons named easyCredit BBL, is the German basketball league system, highest level Sports league, league of professional club basketball in German ...

. He wrapped up the 2022-23 campaign, averaging 8.1 points and 4.2 rebounds per game in Bundesliga play. On 16 July 2023 Midtgaard was signed by the

of the BNXT League. He attended only one BNXT contest for Antwerp and parted ways with the team on 4 October 2023 after having suffered a knee injury.

National team career

Midtgaard represented

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

at the 2015 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship Division B in Austria, and averaged 7.3 points and 8.4 rebounds per game.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

, 8 , , 0 , , 6.1 , , .500 , , – , , .500 , , 2.1 , , .0 , , .1 , , .3 , , 1.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, 34 , , 3 , , 11.3 , , .632 , , – , , .595 , , 3.1 , , .2 , , .1 , , .8 , , 3.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 24 , , 1 , , 8.0 , , .484 , , – , , .333 , , 2.0 , , .3 , , .1 , , .5 , , 1.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2020–21 , style="text-align:left;",

, 24 , , 24 , , 28.7 , , style="background:#cfecec;", .707* , , .000 , , .718 , , 9.7 , , .7 , , .4 , , 1.3 , , 14.2 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 90 , , 28 , , 14.6 , , .658 , , .000 , , .644 , , 4.5 , , .3 , , .2 , , .8 , , 5.8

References

External links

Grand Canyon Antelopes bioWichita State Shockers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Midtgaard, Ashbjorn 1997 births Living people Centers (basketball) Crailsheim Merlins players Danish expatriate basketball people in the United States Danish expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Danish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Danish men's basketball players Grand Canyon Antelopes men's basketball players Hørsholm 79ers players Sportspeople from Helsingør Wichita State Shockers men's basketball players ZZ Leiden players 21st-century Danish sportsmen