Florent Thamba (born 25 February 1999) is a Congolese 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 who last played for

ADA Blois Basket 41 Abeille des Aydes Blois Basket 41, commonly known as ADA Blois, is a professional basketball based in Blois, France. The club plays in the Pro A, which is the top tier of basketball in the country. History Created in 1907 under the name Abeill ...

of the

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 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

Baylor Bears The Baylor Bears are the athletic teams that represent Baylor University. The teams participate in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as one of only three private school members of the Big 12 Conference. Prior t ...

of the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

Early life

Thamba was born in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

and lived in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

during his childhood before settling in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. At age 16, he moved to the United States to attend Mountain Mission School in

Grundy, Virginia Grundy is a town in Buchanan County, Virginia, Buchanan County, Virginia, United States, an area located within the Appalachian Mountains region. It is the county seat of Buchanan County. The town is home to the Appalachian School of Law. The pop ...

, where he played basketball for three seasons. He committed to playing college basketball for Baylor over offers from

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 ...

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 ...

and

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

College career

Thamba came off the bench during his first two years at Baylor. As a freshman, he averaged 1.8 points and 2.2 rebounds per game. He averaged 2.3 points and 2.2 rebounds per game as a sophomore. In his junior season, Thamba became a starter for one of the top teams in the nation. He averaged 3.6 points and four rebounds per game, helping Baylor win its first NCAA tournament title. On 26 February 2022, Thamba scored a career-high 18 points in an 80–70 victory against

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 ...

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;", Baylor , 33 , , 0 , , 10.0 , , .538 , , – , , .533 , , 2.2 , , .3 , , .2 , , .6 , , 1.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;", Baylor , 19 , , 0 , , 9.1 , , .481 , , – , , .567 , , 2.2 , , .1 , , .1 , , .7 , , 2.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2020–21 , style="text-align:left;", Baylor , 30 , , 30 , , 15.0 , , .563 , , – , , .617 , , 4.0 , , .2 , , .2 , , .7 , , 3.6 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 82 , , 30 , , 11.6 , , .540 , , – , , .579 , , 2.8 , , .2 , , .2 , , .7 , , 2.6

Personal life

Thamba's father, Emmanual, works in

customs Customs is an authority or Government agency, agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling International trade, the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out ...

in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. His older brother, Levy, fatally fell from a hotel

balcony A balcony (from , "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. They are commonly found on multi-level houses, apartme ...

in 2014 after consuming a marijuana edible.

References

External links

Proballers profileBaylor Bears bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thamba, Flo 1999 births Living people 21st-century Democratic Republic of the Congo sportsmen ADA Blois Basket 41 players Basketball players from Kinshasa Baylor Bears men's basketball players Centers (basketball) Democratic Republic of the Congo expatriate basketball people in France Democratic Republic of the Congo expatriate basketball people in the United States Democratic Republic of the Congo men's basketball players Jämtland Basket players Power forwards