Kruz Ambrose Roger Perrott-Hunt (born 23 November 2000) is a New Zealand professional basketball player for the

Tauranga Whai The Tauranga Whai are a New Zealand professional basketball team based in Tauranga, Bay of Plenty. The Whai compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Mercury Baypark. Team history In December 2021, the Bay ...

of the New Zealand National Basketball League (NZNBL). 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

South Dakota Coyotes The South Dakota Coyotes, also known as the USD Coyotes ( ), are the athletic teams for the University of South Dakota. Their team colors are vermilion and white. They have been members of Summit League of the NCAA's Division I since the 2011� ...

Early life and career

Perrott-Hunt was born in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, New Zealand. He attended

Rosmini College Rosmini College is a state integrated Catholic School, Catholic secondary school for boys, situated in Takapuna, Auckland, New Zealand. The proprietor of the school is Roman Catholic Diocese of Auckland, the Bishop of Auckland. The school cater ...

, where he won back-to-back national championships. Perrott-Hunt joined the

New Zealand Breakers The New Zealand Breakers (also known as the Bank of New Zealand, BNZ Breakers for sponsorship reasons) are a New Zealand professional basketball team based in Auckland. The Breakers are the only non-Australian side currently competing in Austral ...

of the Australian National Basketball League as a development player for the 2018–19 season. He played one game for the Breakers during the season, making his debut on 21 December 2018 against the

Illawarra Hawks The Illawarra Hawks (formerly the Wollongong Hawks and The Hawks) are an Australian professional basketball team based in Wollongong, New South Wales. The Illawarra Hawks compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home game ...

. He then joined the

Nelson Giants The Nelson Giants are a New Zealand professional men's basketball team based in Nelson, New Zealand, Nelson. The Giants compete in the National Basketball League (New Zealand), National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at the T ...

of the New Zealand NBL for the

2019 season Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * '' 19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * '' Dici ...

, where he averaged 9.3 points, 2.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.1 steals in 13 games.

College career

Perrott-Hunt played four years of

in the United States for the

between 2019 and 2023. As a freshman in 2019–20, Perrott-Hunt action in 22 games with seven starts and averaged 1.5 points, 9.6 minutes and 1.1 assists per game. In

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 ...

, Perrott-Hunt was one of three players to start every game, averaging 7.0 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 27.6 minutes per game. He scored a season-high 16 points against

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

on 29 January 2021. In 2021–22, Perrott-Hunt started in all 31 games and led the team in scoring and assists with 15 points per game and 71 assists. He finished ninth in the conference in scoring, recording five 20-plus point performances including a season-high 25 against Tennessee State and

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

. He was subsequently named second-team All-

Summit League The Summit League, or The Summit, is an NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletic conference with its membership mostly located in the Midwestern United States, from Minnesota in the east, to the Dakotas, Nebraska and Colorado to the West, and Mis ...

. In January 2022, he reached 490 career points, moving ahead of

Stan Hill Stanley Alan Hill (born 1955) is a New Zealand former basketball player who was captain of the New Zealand men's national basketball team, known as the "Tall Blacks", for nine years. Early life Hill was born in Christchurch, of Māori desce ...

into 17th spot on the all-time list of New Zealand scorers in

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 ...

men's basketball. In

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 ...

, Perrott-Hunt played in all 31 games for the Coyotes and started 30, averaging a team-high 31 minutes per game. He led the team in scoring and ranked 12th in the conference at 14.3 points per game. He had six 20-plus scoring efforts and 23 double-digit scoring outings, becoming a member of the 1,000 point club during the season. He scored a career-high 30 points against

Western Illinois Forgottonia (), also spelled Forgotonia, is the name given to a 16-county region in Western Illinois in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This geographic region forms the distinctive western bulge of Illinois (area west of 90° Longitude West) t ...

on 31 December 2022. He earned All-Summit League honorable mention honours.

Professional career

In April 2023, Perrott-Hunt signed with the

Auckland Tuatara Auckland Tuatara may refer to: * Auckland Tuatara (baseball) * Auckland Tuatara (basketball) {{Disambiguation ...

for the

2023 New Zealand NBL season The 2023 NBL season was the 42nd season of the National Basketball League. For the third year in a row, the league fielded 10 teams. The regular season commenced on 6 April in Pukekohe, with the Franklin Bulls hosting the Hawke's Bay Hawks at F ...

. He initially signed to begin his professional career, but he was released in May to pursue going back to college for a final season. With that possibility not coming to fruition, Perrott-Hunt opted to return to the Tuatara in June. In nine games for the Tuatara, he averaged 6.6 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. For the 2023–24 season, Perrott-Hunt joined

KK Borac Čačak Košarkaški klub Borac Čačak ( sr-Cyrl, Кошаркашки клуб Борац Чачак), commonly referred to as KK Borac Čačak or as Borac Mozzart due to sponsorship reasons, is a men's professional basketball Sports club, club based ...

of the

Serbian League The Serbian League () is the third level football league in Serbia. It consists of four groups, namely Belgrade, East, Vojvodina, and West. The winner of each group earns promotion to the Serbian First League. History 1992–1995 In the summer o ...

. He played in only one game for Borac in the

ABA League The ABA League, renamed the ABA League First Division in 2017, is the top-tier regional men's professional basketball league that originally featured clubs from former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedoni ...

on 27 November 2023 against

KK Partizan Košarkaški klub Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Кошаркашки клуб Партизан, lit=Basketball Club Partizan), commonly known as Partizan Belgrade, or as Partizan Mozzart Bet for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball Sports cl ...

. In March 2024, Perrott-Hunt signed with the

for the

2024 New Zealand NBL season The 2024 NBL season was the 43rd season of the National Basketball League. The competition increased to 11 teams in 2024 with the Tauranga Whai joining the league for the first time. The 2024 season saw the return of a pre-season blitz for the ...

. In 20 games, he averaged 13.0 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. In August 2024, Perrott-Hunt signed with

Korihait Korihait () is a Finnish basketball team from Uusikaupunki. It was formed as Uudenkaupungin Urheilijat, shortly UU, in 1898 and has won one Korisliiga The Korisliiga is the top-tier professional basketball league in Finland, comprising the top ...

of the Finnish

Korisliiga The Korisliiga is the top-tier professional basketball league in Finland, comprising the top 12 teams of the country. In its current format, each team plays all other teams two times in the regular season, once at home and once away, for a total o ...

. He appeared in seven games for Korihait before joining BC Komarno of the

Slovak Basketball League The Slovenská Basketbalová Liga (SBL) () is the highest level tier league of men's professional club basketball in Slovakia. The league was founded in 1993. MBK Pezinok is the league's most successful team, having won a league record 9 champions ...

in November 2024. He was cut by Komarno on 4 January 2025 after appearing in eight games. In February 2025, Perrott-Hunt re-signed with the Tauranga Whai for the

2025 New Zealand NBL season The 2025 NBL season is the 44th season of the National Basketball League. The competition increased to 12 teams in 2025 with the debut of the Indian Panthers, but later decreased to 11 teams in May following the withdrawal of the Panthers. The ...

National team career

Perrott-Hunt played for the New Zealand Junior Tall Blacks at the

2017 FIBA Under-17 Oceania Championship The 2017 FIBA Under-17 Oceania Championship was an international under-17 basketball tournament held from 10 to 15 July 2017 by FIBA Oceania in Hagåtña, Guam. Australia defeated New Zealand in the Finals, 93–55, to take the gold medal and ...

2018 FIBA U18 Asian Championship The 2018 FIBA Under-18 Asian Championship was the 25th edition of the Asian Championship for Junior Men aged 18 years old and below. The tournament was held in Nonthaburi, Thailand from 5 to 11 August 2018. held off , 72−63, to win their ...

, and

2019 FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup The 2019 FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup (Greek: Παγκόσμιο Κύπελλο Μπάσκετ FIBA Under-19 2019) was the 14th edition of the FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup, the biennial international men's youth basketball championshi ...

. Perrott-Hunt debuted for the senior New Zealand national team, the Tall Blacks, during the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup Asian qualifiers. He played for the Tall Blacks at the

2022 FIBA Asia Cup The 2022 FIBA Asia Cup was the 30th edition of the FIBA Asia Cup, the continental basketball championship in Asia. The tournament was organised by FIBA Asia. Originally intended to be the 2021 edition, the tournament was initially scheduled to t ...

, where he averaged 8.7 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists in seven games.

References

External links

South Dakota Coyotes bioFIBA profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perrott-Hunt, Kruz 2000 births Living people Auckland Tuatara basketball players Basketball players from Auckland Guards (basketball) KK Borac Čačak players Korihait players Nelson Giants players New Zealand Breakers players New Zealand expatriate basketball people in the United States New Zealand men's basketball players People educated at Rosmini College South Dakota Coyotes men's basketball players Tauranga Whai players New Zealand expatriate basketball people in Finland