Donatas Zavackas (born 23 April 1980) is a Lithuanian former professional basketball player. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

. Standing at , he plays the

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to center (basketball), centers. When on Of ...

position.

College career

During his successful career at Pitt, Zavackas was known as one of the most intelligent, hardworking team players in the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

. Zavackas was a key component in Head Coach

Ben Howland Benjamin Clark Howland (born May 28, 1957) is an American college basketball coach who most recently served as the men's head coach at Mississippi State University from to 2015 to 2022. He served as the head men's basketball coach at Northern Ar ...

's transformation of the Panthers into a level of league elite status. The season before Zavackas arrived, Pitt finished the Big East season in 11th place with a 5–13 record (14–16 overall). During Zavackas' four years the Panthers captured two regular season Big East Titles, played in three Big East tournament (BET) Championship games and captured one BET Championship. Pitt also played in one

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Played at regional sites and traditionally at Madison Square Garden (Final Four) in New York City ...

and two NCAA Tournaments (advancing to the Sweet 16 round both times) with Zavackas at

position. Zavackas scored 1,099 points for the Panthers which currently places him 31st on Pitt's All Time scoring list. His .807

free throw percentage In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the restricted area. Free throws ...

is good enough for 5th place in Panther history. Unfortunately, many Pittsburgh fans only remember Zavackas for removing his shoes and refusing to play in the waning minutes of an NCAA Tournament game. That game, versus Marquette, would be his last career college game.

Professional career

After winning third place in the Lithuanian League (LKL) with

Šiauliai Šiauliai (; bat-smg, Šiaulē; german: Schaulen, ) is the fourth largest city in Lithuania, with a population of 107,086. From 1994 to 2010 it was the capital of Šiauliai County. Names Šiauliai is referred to by various names in different ...

, he moved to

Lietuvos Rytas ''Lietuvos rytas'' (lit. 'Morning of Lithuania') is a Lithuanian daily newspaper. History and profile "Lietuvos rytas" was established in 1990 on a basis of newspaper "Komjaunimo tiesa". The paper is printed in Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see als ...

, where he became the LKL champion in 2009. In this club he gained reputation of overly emotional player. In August 2010, he signed a one-year contract with the German club

EnBW Ludwigsburg Riesen Ludwigsburg ( en, Giants Ludwigsburg), for sponsorship reasons MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg, is a professional basketball club that is based in Ludwigsburg, Germany. The club currently plays in the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL), the first tier of ...

. In June 2011, he extended his contract with Ludwigsburg for one more season. In February, 2012 he moved to

BK VEF Rīga VEF Rīga is a Latvian professional basketball team that is based in Riga, Latvia. VEF Rīga is a nine-time Latvian Basketball League champion. History Early years The club name VEF came from the radio manufacturing company VEF which created th ...

, signing a two-year contract with a team. On September 2, 2013, he signed a one-month contract with the EuroLeague powerhouse

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow (russian: ЦСКА Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was a central piece ...

, to work with the team during preseason period. Later that month he moved to the German team

Telekom Baskets Bonn Telekom Baskets Bonn, also known as Baskets Bonn, is a German professional basketball club that is based in Bonn, Germany. The club plays in the Basketball Bundesliga, which is the highest level pro basketball league in Germany. The club's spon ...

. On December 30, 2013, he signed with the Italian team

Vanoli Cremona Guerino Vanoli Basket, also known as Vanoli Cremona, is a professional basketball team of the city of Cremona. The team played in the LBA, the top Italian basketball league, for 12 years until 2021. From 1999 to 2011 the society had the name of G ...

for the remainder of the season. In August 2014, he signed a two-year deal with his former team Neptūnas Klaipėda. On August 16, 2016, Zavackas signed with Consultinvest Pesaro of the Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Copp ...

. On October 9, 2017, Zavackas retired and became the sports director of Neptūnas Klaipėda.

EuroLeague career statistics

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2009–10 , style="text-align:left;",

, 10 , , 9 , , 24.9 , , .379 , , .400 , , .826 , , 3.1 , , 1.1 , , .9 , , .2 , , 7.9 , , 6.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2014–15 , style="text-align:left;", Neptūnas , 10 , , 9 , , 25.9 , , .594 , , .571 , , .750 , , 5.1 , , 1.8 , , .7 , , .0 , , 12.0 , , 13.7 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", , 20 , , 18 , , 25.4 , , .496 , , .480 , , .788 , , 4.1 , , 1.5 , , .8 , , .1 , , 10.0 , , 10.2

References

External links

Donatas Zavackas
at euroleague.net

at FIBA.com

at pittsburghpanthers.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Zavackas, Donatas 1980 births Living people BC Dnipro players BC Neptūnas players BC Rytas players BC Šiauliai players Besançon BCD players BK VEF Rīga players Bree BBC players KK Włocławek players Lega Basket Serie A players Liège Basket players Lithuanian men's basketball players Lithuanian expatriate basketball people in Poland Lithuanian expatriate basketball people in Ukraine Lithuanian expatriate basketball people in Latvia Lithuanian expatriate basketball people in Germany Lithuanian expatriate basketball people in the United States Riesen Ludwigsburg players Pallalcesto Amatori Udine players Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball players Power forwards (basketball) Basketball players from Klaipėda Telekom Baskets Bonn players Vanoli Cremona players Victoria Libertas Pallacanestro players St. Vincent–St. Mary High School alumni