Uzodinma Utomi (born March 7, 1997), better known as Daniel Utomi, is an American-born NigerianD’Tigers FIBA Afrobasket final roster released
TODAY.ng, 19 August 2021. Accessed 26 August. 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 played college basketball for

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

Akron Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 census. The Akron metropolitan area, covering Summit and Portage counties, had ...

High school career

Utomi attended Westside High School in

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

. As a junior, he was named to the First-Team All-District. Utomi averaged 27 points and 14 rebounds per game as a junior, shooting 46 percent from three-point range. He garnered District Most Valuable Player honors after helping lead the Wolves to a 21–9 record and a spot in the regional tournament last season. In April 2015, Utomi committed to play college basketball at

College career

After playing in two games as a true freshman, Utomi suffered a foot injury and was forced to redshirt the season. Utomi averaged 4.8 points and 1.2 rebounds per game as a redshirt freshman. He took on a leadership role during his redshirt sophomore season due to the departure of much of the team as well as coach

Keith Dambrot Keith Brett Dambrot (born October 26, 1958) is an American former college basketball coach who was most recently the men's basketball head coach of Duquesne University. In his final year, he led them to their first tournament appearance since 197 ...

. On November 18, 2017, Utomi scored a career-high 32 points and made a career-high seven three-pointers in a 76–59 win against UT Martin. As a redshirt sophomore, he averaged 16.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game, shooting 40.6 percent from behind the arc. Utomi led Akron in scoring as a redshirt junior with 14.2 points per game while also averaging 5.5 rebounds 5.5 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game, earning Honorable Mention All-

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Its members co ...

recognition. Following the season, he decided to transfer to

as a graduate transfer, choosing the Trojans over

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

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 ...

, and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

. Utomi was ranked the 23rd best graduate transfer according to

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 ...

. On February 15, 2020, he scored a season-high 23 points in a 70–51 victory over

Washington State Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...

. As a senior, Utomi averaged 8.2 points and 3.8 rebounds per game.

Professional career

On July 18, 2020, Utomi signed with Kauhajoki Karhu 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 ...

. In his debut on October 13, he scored 25 points in an 84–82 loss to

Helsinki Seagulls The Helsinki Seagulls are a professional basketball team, based in Helsinki, Finland. The club plays in the Korisliiga, the highest tier of basketball in Finland. The Seagulls were founded in 2013 and made its debut in the Korisliiga in 2014, aft ...

. Utomi averaged 12.6 points per game shooting 53.7 percent from three-point range. He bought out of his contract on December 4. On February 22, 2021, Utomi signed with

JA Vichy-Clermont Métropole Basket Jeanne d'Arc de Vichy Basket, most commonly known as JA Vichy or JAV, is a French professional basketball club that is based in Vichy. The team currently plays in the Pro B, the second highest professional division in France. The club was formed in ...

of the French

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 ...

. He averaged 11.9 points and 3 rebounds per game. On September 11, 2021, Utomi signed with

Pistoia Basket 2000 A.S. Pistoia Basket 2000, known for sponsorship reasons as Giorgio Tesi Group Pistoia, is an Italian professional basketball team based in Pistoia, Tuscany. History The city of Pistoia was formerly represented in the first division Lega Basket Ser ...

of the

Serie A2 Basket Serie A2, known for sponsorship reasons as Serie A2 Old Wild West, is a men's basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Italy. It constitutes the second-tier of the Italian basketball league system, Italian league pyramid, below the firs ...

. Utomi spent the 2022–2023 season with Italian club

San Giobbe The Church of St Job () is a 15th-century Roman Catholic church located overlooking the campo of the same name, known as ''Sant'Agiopo'' in Venetian dialect, on the south bank of the Cannaregio canal near Ponte dei Tre Archi in the sestiere of C ...

, where he averaged 15.1 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 28 games. On July 11, 2023, Utomi signed with Greek club Kolossos Rodou.

Nigeria national team

He has been part of Nigeria's national team at the

AfroBasket 2021 FIBA AfroBasket 2021 was the 30th edition of the FIBA AfroBasket, a men's basketball continental championship of Africa. The tournament was hosted by Rwanda for the first time. It was originally scheduled to take place between 17 and 29 August 20 ...

Kigali Kigali () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is near the nation's geographic centre in a region of rolling hills, with a series of valleys and ridges joined by steep slopes. As a primate city, Kigali is a relativ ...

, Rwanda.

References

External links

Akron Zips bioUSC Trojans bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Utomi, Daniel 1997 births Living people American men's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Finland American expatriate basketball people in France American expatriate basketball people in Greece American expatriate basketball people in Italy Basketball players from Houston Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Finland Nigerian expatriate basketball people in France Nigerian expatriate basketball people in Italy Nigerian expatriate basketball people in Greece Nigerian men's basketball players Akron Zips men's basketball players USC Trojans men's basketball players Kauhajoen Karhu players Kolossos Rodou B.C. players Small forwards Nigeria men's national basketball team players American basketball players of Nigerian descent 21st-century American sportsmen 21st-century Nigerian sportsmen BC Astana players American expatriate basketball people in Kazakhstan San Giobbe Basket players