Santiago Véscovi Vannet (born 14 September 2001) is a Uruguayan

professional basketball In professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, participants receive payment for their performance. Professionalism in sport has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought larger a ...

player for the Baxi Manresa of the

Liga ACB The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administered by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, w ...

. He played

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for the

Tennessee Volunteers The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in Division I of the National Colleg ...

Early life and career

Born in

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

, Véscovi grew up playing

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at the youth level for Club Atlético Bohemios. In July 2017, his performance at a

Basketball Without Borders Basketball Without Borders is a basketball instructional camp organized by the NBA in conjunction with FIBA. It presents itself as a “basketball development and community outreach program that unites young basketball players to promote the sport ...

camp in

The Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of ...

helped him earn an invitation to the NBA Academy Latin America in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

. At age 16, he began attending the academy, while receiving online education through the Apex Learning Virtual School. In July 2019, Véscovi moved to the NBA Global Academy, a training center at the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

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. That month, he led his team to the 2019 NBA Academy Games championship. Véscovi was named

most valuable player In team sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or ...

of the 2019 Skill Factory Tournament of Champions after averaging 17.4 points per game. In September 2019, he averaged 12.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, three assists and 1.5 steals per game for the Uruguay Elite Team at the NBA G League International Challenge.

Recruiting

Véscovi was considered a four-star recruit by

247Sports 247Sports is an American network of websites that focus mainly on college recruiting, athletic recruitment in college football and college basketball, basketball. It is owned and operated by Paramount Global, Paramount. The website hosts a large ...

and a three-star recruit by

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and

Rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or Social group, groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each ...

. On 22 November 2019, he committed to playing college basketball for

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

. He planned on enrolling at the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...

during the second semester.

College career

Tennessee coach

Rick Barnes Richard Barnes (born July 17, 1954) is an American college basketball coach who is currently the head coach at the University of Tennessee. He is also known for coaching at the University of Texas from 1998 to 2015, taking the team to the NCAA ...

said in December 2019 that it was "highly unlikely" that Véscovi would play in his freshman season, indicating that he would likely redshirt to learn the system. However, with the loss of Lamonte Turner to injury, there was an opening for Véscovi to start at point guard. He was cleared to play for the team on 3 January 2020. One day later, he made his college debut, scoring 18 points, shooting 6-of-9 from three-point range, in a 78–64 loss to

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

. He also posted six rebounds and four assists, while committing nine turnovers. On 11 February, he recorded a freshman season-high 20 points and eight assists in an 82–61 win over

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

. In a game at Auburn on 22 February, an Auburn fan was ejected and barred from future games after yelling a xenophobic taunt at Véscovi. He started in all 19 of his appearances as a freshman, averaging 10.7 points, 3.7 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game. As a sophomore, Véscovi averaged 8.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game. As a junior, he averaged 13.3 points, 4.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.7 steals per game. Véscovi was named to the First Team All- SEC as a junior. On 26 March 2022, he declared for the

2022 NBA draft The 2022 NBA draft (branded as the 2022 NBA Draft presented by State Farm for sponsorship reasons), the 76th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual NBA draft, draft, was held on June 23, 2022, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New ...

while maintaining his college eligibility.

Professional career

After going unselected in the

2024 NBA draft The 2024 NBA draft was the 78th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual NBA draft, draft. Unlike recent years, the 2024 draft took place over two nights. This was the first NBA draft to be held on multiple nights since the draft ...

, Vescovi signed with the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Founded in 1946 i ...

on July 1, 2024.

National team career

Uruguayan junior national team

In October 2016, Véscovi averaged 21.8 points, six rebounds and 3.4 assists per game, leading Uruguay to fourth place at the FIBA South America Under-15 Championship in

Asunción Asunción (, ) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay. The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay of Asunción in the north ...

Uruguayan senior national team

Véscovi debuted for the Uruguayan senior national team at the

2019 Pan American Games The 2019 Pan American Games (), officially the XVIII Pan American Games () and commonly known as Lima 2019, were a multi-sport event governed by the Panam Sports Organization held in Lima, Peru from July 26 to August 11, 2019, with preliminar ...

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 19 , , 19 , , 30.3 , , .373 , , .360 , , .808 , , 3.3 , , 3.7 , , 1.2 , , .2 , , 10.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2020–21 , style="text-align:left;",

, 27 , , 23 , , 29.2 , , .388 , , .373 , , .816 , , 3.7 , , 3.1 , , 1.2 , , .0 , , 8.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

, 35 , , 35 , , 31.2 , , .413 , , .403 , , .793 , , 4.4 , , 3.2 , , 1.7 , , .2 , , 13.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2022–23 , style="text-align:left;",

, 33 , , 33 , , 33.0 , , .396 , , .370 , , .775 , , 4.6 , , 3.1 , , 1.8 , , .1 , , 12.5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 114 , , 110 , , 31.1 , , .397 , , .381 , , .795 , , 4.1 , , 3.2 , , 1.5 , , .1 , , 11.6

Personal life

He is a

Peñarol Club Atlético Peñarol (), more commonly referred to as Peñarol, is a Uruguayan professional football club based in Montevideo. The club currently competes in the Uruguayan Primera División, the highest tier in Uruguayan football. The nam ...

supporter. Véscovi's father, Pablo, played

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

for Club Atlético Bohemios. His grandfather, Daniel Vannet, played basketball for Bohemios and for the Uruguayan national team. His mother is Laura Vannet and he has a sister, Lucia. Véscovi is of

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

descent.

References

External links

Tennessee Volunteers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vescovi, Santiago 2001 births Living people Basketball players from Montevideo Bàsquet Manresa players Point guards Tennessee Volunteers basketball players Uruguayan expatriate basketball people in Mexico Uruguayan expatriate basketball people in the United States Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Australia Uruguayan men's basketball players Uruguayan sportspeople of Italian descent