Benjamin Chukwukelo Uzoh (born March 18, 1988) is a Nigerian-American former

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 played in international competitions for . Standing at and playing at 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 ...

, Uzoh played in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA) for the

New Jersey Nets New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

and

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), E ...

. He also played for several teams across North America, Europe, South America and Africa.

College career

Uzoh played for the Tulsa Golden Hurricane over his four-year

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 ...

career. Uzoh is the only player in school history to be ranked top 10 among points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. He's a three time All-Conference USA recipient including his selection to the first team his senior year. He started in 140 games out 141 game in his college career.

Professional career

In the summer of 2010, Uzoh earned Portsmouth Invitational Tournament All Third Team. After going

undrafted In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

in the

2010 NBA draft The 2010 NBA draft was held on June 24, 2010, at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The draft, which started at 7:00 pm Eastern Time Zone, Eastern Daylight Time (2300 Coordinated Universal Time, UTC), was broadcast in the ...

, Uzoh signed a partially guaranteed contract with the

of the

. On January 5, 2011, Uzoh was given a guaranteed contract to play out the rest of the year in New Jersey. He was briefly assigned to the Springfield Armor of the NBA D-League, during the month of March 2011. In October 2011, he signed a one-year contract with Lokomotiv Kuban of the Russian League, but was released after playing just two games. On March 27, 2012, he signed a 10-day contract with the

of the

. On April 16, 2012, the Raptors announced they had signed Ben Uzoh for the remainder of the 2011–2012 season. He recorded a triple-double on April 26, against the Nets, the first by a Raptor in eleven years. Uzoh joined the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA), W ...

for their training camp in October 2012, but did not make the team's final roster. He was then acquired by the D-League team the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. However, on November 5, 2012, Uzoh was traded to the Armor for Tim Ohlbrecht. On October 31, 2013, Uzoh was acquired by the Tulsa 66ers in a trade involving the Iowa Energy and the Springfield Armor. On January 22, 2014, he was traded to the Canton Charge. On March 21, 2014, he was waived by the Charge due to a season-ending injury. Ben Uzoh went to Nigeria in 2015 where he signed on to play for the Lagos Islanders. On March 12, 2017, Uzoh signed with Belgian club Okapi Aalstar for the rest of the 2016–17 season. On February 10, 2018, he signed with Caballeros de Culiacan of the CIBACOPA league in Mexico. He earned league All-Star honors. On November 24, 2019, Uzoh signed with Paris Basketball of the

LNB Pro B The LNB Pro B, commonly known as Pro B, is the second-tier level men's professional basketball league in France. It is the second division of the Ligue Nationale de Basket (LNB), which has organized the league since the year 1987. The regular se ...

. On January 20, 2020, Paris Basketball and Uzoh jointly decided not to continue their collaboration. In April 2021, Uzoh signed with the Nigerian team

Rivers Hoopers Rivers Hoopers is a Nigerian professional basketball team based in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. The team plays in the Nigerian Premier League (NPL) and currently in the Basketball Africa League (BAL). Established in 2005 as Royal Hoopers, the ...

to play in the inaugural season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). He scored the first-ever points in the BAL in the season opener against Patriots BBC. He also became the first ex-

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

player to play in the newly established competition. The Hoopers were eliminated in the regular season after two losses and one win, with Uzoh averaging a team-leading 14.7 points per game. In September 2021, Uzoh was on the roster of South African team

Cape Town Tigers The Cape Town Tigers are a South African professional basketball team founded in Cape Town. The Tigers have played in the Basketball National League (BNL) and played in three seasons of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) between 2022 and 2024. ...

and helped the team win its first-ever national championship. He recorded 22 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists in the championship game against Jozi Nuggets. On July 4, 2022, he signed with Marinos of the Venezuelan SuperLiga.

Post-playing career

In October 2023, Uzoh became a scout for his former team, the

of the

(NBA).

National team career

Uzoh has played for the

Nigerian national basketball team The Nigeria men's national basketball team represents Nigeria in international basketball, and it is governed by the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF). In March 2021, the global governing body FIBA ranked Nigeria as Africa's top men's baske ...

at the

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, 2015, and 2017 FIBA Men's African Championships. He was also a member of the Nigerian team that participated at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

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, 16 , , 8 , , 22.3 , , .351 , , .000 , , .579 , , 3.9 , , 3.7 , , 1.0 , , 0.2 , , 4.8 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 60 , , 8 , , 13.5 , , .395 , , .333 , , .587 , , 2.1 , , 2.2 , , 0.5 , , 0.2 , , 4.0

BAL

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, 3 , , 3 , , 29.1 , , .559 , , .000 , , .667 , , 4.7 , , 5.3 , , 1.0 , , .7 , , 14.7 , - , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 3 , , 3 , , 29.1 , , .559 , , .000 , , .667 , , 4.7 , , 5.3 , , 1.0 , , .7 , , 14.7

References

External links

*
Ben Uzoh
at USBasket.com
Ben Uzoh
at ESPN.com

at Tulsa Golden Hurricanes website {{DEFAULTSORT:Uzoh, Ben 1988 births Living people 21st-century African-American sportsmen 21st-century American sportsmen 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup players American expatriate basketball people in Belgium American expatriate basketball people in Canada American expatriate basketball people in Russia American men's basketball players American basketball players of Nigerian descent Basketball players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Basketball players from Houston Basketball players from San Antonio Canton Charge players Cape Town Tigers players Cleveland Cavaliers players Marinos B.B.C. players New Jersey Nets players Nigerian expatriate basketball people in Canada Nigerian expatriate basketball people in Russia Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Nigerian men's basketball players Okapi Aalstar players Olympic basketball players for Nigeria PBC Lokomotiv-Kuban players Point guards Rio Grande Valley Vipers players Rivers Hoopers players Springfield Armor players Toronto Raptors players Tulsa 66ers players Tulsa Golden Hurricane men's basketball players Undrafted NBA players 21st-century Nigerian sportsmen