Abu Haef Kigab (born November 3, 1998) is a Sudanese-Canadian 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 the PS Karlsruhe Lions of the German second-tier league

ProA The ProA is the German basketball league system, second-tier Sports league, league of professional club basketball in Germany. The league comprises 16 teams. Officially the ProA is part of the ''2. Basketball Bundesliga'', which consists of the t ...

. 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

Oregon Ducks The Oregon Ducks are the College sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Oregon, located in Eugene, Oregon, Eugene. The Ducks compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCA ...

and for the

Boise State Broncos The Boise State Broncos are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Boise State University, located in Boise, Idaho. The Broncos compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Mount ...

of the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on Ja ...

. He was a key player on a Canada team that won the gold medal at the FIBA U19 World Cup in 2017.

Early life

Born in

Khartoum Khartoum or Khartum is the capital city of Sudan as well as Khartoum State. With an estimated population of 7.1 million people, Greater Khartoum is the largest urban area in Sudan. Khartoum is located at the confluence of the White Nile – flo ...

, Sudan to Sultan Kigab, Kigab moved to

St. Catharines, Ontario St. Catharines is the most populous city in Canada's Niagara Region, the eighth largest urban area in the province of Ontario. As of 2021, St. Catharines has an area of and 136,803 residents. It lies in Southern Ontario, south of Toronto ac ...

with his family at age nine. He attended Queen Mary Public School and St. Francis Catholic Secondary School and joined the Prolific Prep Academy in

Napa, California Napa is the largest city and county seat of Napa County, California, Napa County and a principal city of Wine Country in Northern California, United States. Located in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the Bay Area, th ...

in 2015. Kigab was tabbed a breakout performer at

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 ...

in 2016 and was ranked a four-star recruit in the class of 2017 by

Scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

and

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

. He committed to playing college basketball for

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 ...

in March 2017, having also considered

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 ...

, Baylor,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

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 ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

and

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

College career

University of Oregon (2017-2019)

Kigab played his freshman and sophomore season at

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...

. During his freshman year, he played in 35 of 36 games as one of the team's top defenders off the bench. As a sophomore, Kigab averaged 2.6 points and 2.7 rebounds per game in 10 games. He transferred to

Boise State University Boise State University (BSU) is a Public university, public research university in Boise, Idaho, United States. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church (United States), Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has b ...

at the end of the fall quarter during his sophomore season.

Boise State University (2019-2022)

After transferring to Boise State, Kigab had to sit out the second half of the season due to NCAA transfer rules. During his junior year, he appeared in 20 games, starting in 18. He averaged 11.1 points and 3.6 rebounds. He was fourth on the team in scoring and rebounding. He missed two games with a hip pointer. Kigab became eligible at the conclusion of the first semester, after gaining his full year of academic residency. During his senior year, Kigab was All-Mountain West Second Team and All-Mountain West Third Team. He started in 25 games and averaged 11.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2 assists per game. He led the Broncos with 22 blocked shots. Kigab missed final three games after suffering a shoulder injury in the regular season finale. Kigab did a fifth year at Boise State. He was All-Mountain West Second Team and Mountain West Championship MVP. He started all 35 games and averaged 14.8 points, 5.7 rebounds. and 2.4 assists.

Professional career

Niagara River Lions (2022)

After going undrafted in 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 ...

, Kigab joined the

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 ...

Summer League roster in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, recording a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds in the final game against Milwaukee. On October 24, 2022, Kigab joined the

Fort Wayne Mad Ants The Noblesville Boom are an American professional basketball team based in Noblesville, Indiana that competes in the NBA G League. The Boom are the affiliate team of the NBA's Indiana Pacers and, since 2025, they have played their home games at ...

training camp roster. However, he did not make the final roster. Kigab appeared in two games for

Niagara River Lions The Niagara River Lions are a Canadian professional basketball team based in St. Catharines, Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Niagara, that competes in the Canadian Elite Basketball League. From 2015 to 2018, they were members of the Natio ...

during the 2022 CEBL season.

Ottawa BlackJacks (2023)

The Ottawa BlackJacks announced they had signed Kigab on May 5, 2023. He tallied 7 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists in his debut against

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Spišskí Rytieri (2023)

On August 27, 2023, Kigab signed with

Spišskí Rytieri Spišskí Rytieri SNV (in English: Spišskí Knights SNV) is a Slovak professional basketball club based in Spišská Nová Ves. Founded in 2004, the team currently plays in the Slovak Basketball League, the highest tier of basketball in Slovakia. ...

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 18 league games, he averaged 19.6 points, 7.4 rebounds and 2 assists per contest.

MLP Academics Heidelberg (2024)

On January 2, 2024, he inked a deal with the

MLP Academics Heidelberg USC Heidelberg, for sponsorship reasons named MLP Academics Heidelberg, is a professional basketball club from Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The club's men's senior team currently plays in the German first division Basketball Bundeslig ...

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 ...

. Kigab averaged 8.6 points in 12 Bundesliga contests and parted company with the team at the end of the 2023-24 season.

PS Karlsruhe Lions (2024−present)

In November 2024, Kigab was signed by the PS Karlsruhe Lions of the German second-tier league

National team career

Kigab competed for Canada at the 2015 FIBA U19 World Cup and the 2016 FIBA Americas U18 Championship. In July 2017, he was a key player on a Canada team that captured gold at the FIBA U19 World Cup, averaging 14.7 points and 10.6 rebounds, as well as 2.3 assists per game. For his efforts, he was named to the tournament's All-Star Five.

Career statistics

College

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

, 35 , , 0 , , 7.7 , , .344 , , .227 , , .409 , , 1.1 , , .2 , , .4 , , .2 , , 1.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, 10 , , 3 , , 14.9 , , .440 , , .091 , , .600 , , 2.7 , , 1.8 , , .2 , , .0 , , 2.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

Boise State Boise State University (BSU) is a public research university in Boise, Idaho, United States. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding baccalaureate and master's degrees It ...

, 20 , , 18 , , 25.8 , , .420 , , .328 , , .734 , , 3.6 , , 1.0 , , .7 , , .3 , , 11.1 , - , 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;",

, 25 , , 25 , , 28.0 , , .467 , , .301 , , .716 , , 5.4 , , 2.0 , , 1.2 , , .9 , , 11.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

, 35 , , 35 , , 31.5 , , .500 , , .301 , , .677 , , 5.7 , , 2.4 , , 1.3 , , .4 , , 14.8 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 125 , , 81 , , 121.9 , , .461 , , .293 , , .680 , , 3.8 , , 1.4 , , .8 , , .4 , , 8.9

References

External links

Boise State Broncos bio

Oregon Ducks bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kigab, Abu 1998 births Living people Basketball people from Ontario Black Canadian basketball players Black Canadian sportsmen Boise State Broncos men's basketball players Canadian expatriate basketball people in Germany Canadian expatriate basketball people in the United States Canadian men's basketball players Oregon Ducks men's basketball players Ottawa Blackjacks players Sportspeople from Khartoum Small forwards Sportspeople from St. Catharines Sudanese emigrants to Canada PS Karlsruhe Lions players USC Heidelberg players 21st-century Canadian sportsmen