John Richard Nunge (born February 20, 1999) is an American 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

ESSM Le Portel Étoile Sportive Saint-Michel Le Portel Côte d'Opale, commonly known as ESSM Le Portel or simply Le Portel, is a professional basketball team based in Le Portel, France. The team currently plays in the LNB Pro A, Pro A, the first tier in France. ...

of the

LNB Pro A LNB may refer to: Sport * Liga Nacional de Baloncesto, a professional basketball league in the Dominican Republic * Liga Nacional de Básquetbol, an Argentine basketball league * Liga Nacional de Básquetbol (Paraguay), Liga Nacional de Básquetb ...

. Nunge played college basketball for the

Xavier Musketeers The Xavier Musketeers are the 19 teams representing Xavier University in intercollegiate athletics, including men's and women's basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, swimming, tennis, indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field. The Mus ...

of the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...

. He previously played for the

Iowa Hawkeyes The Iowa Hawkeyes are the athletic teams that represent the University of Iowa, located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. The Hawkeyes have varsity teams in 20 sports, 7 for men and 13 for women; The teams participate in Division I of the Nati ...

High school career

Nunge played basketball for Castle High School in

Newburgh, Indiana Newburgh is an incorporated town in Ohio Township, Warrick County, Indiana, United States, along the Ohio River. The population was 3,325 as of the 2010 census, although the town is part of the larger Evansville metropolitan area, which recor ...

. In his junior season, he averaged 19.3 points, 11.4 rebounds and 3.7 blocks per game. As a senior, Nunge averaged 22.8 points, 11.6 rebounds and 3.5 blocks per game, leading his team to the Class 4A Seymour semistate. He was named ''

Evansville Courier & Press The ''Evansville Courier & Press'' is a daily newspaper based in Evansville, Indiana. It serves about 30,000 daily and 50,000 Sunday readers. History The ''Evansville Courier'' was founded in 1845 by William Newton, a young attorney. Its first ...

'' All-Metro Player of the Year. He committed to playing college basketball for

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

over offers from Clemson,

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 ...

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

, Creighton and Vanderbilt, among others.

College career

As a freshman at Iowa, Nunge averaged 5.7 points and 2.8 rebounds per game. He opted to

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Sports * Redshirt (college sports) Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically ...

his next season to gain strength and to develop his skills. In his fifth game as a sophomore, Nunge suffered a

torn anterior cruciate ligament An anterior cruciate ligament injury occurs when the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is either stretched, partially torn, or completely torn. The most common injury is a complete tear. Symptoms include pain, an audible cracking sound during in ...

in his right knee, forcing him to miss the rest of the season. He averaged 7.1 points and 5.3 rebounds per game as a redshirt sophomore, before sustaining another season-ending right knee injury, a torn meniscus. For his junior year, Nunge transferred to Xavier. On December 11, 2021, he posted a career-high 31 points and 15 rebounds in an 83–63 win against

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

. Nunge was named Honorable Mention All-

Big East The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...

. In his final season, he averaged 14.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.2 blocked shots per game.

Professional career

On October 1, 2023, Nunge signed his first professional contract with

Scafati Basket Scafati Basket, known for sponsorship reasons as Givova Scafati, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Scafati, Campania. The club competes in the top level Italian professional basketball league, the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA). Hi ...

of the

Lega Basket Serie A The Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) is a professional men's club (sport), club basketball list of basketball leagues, league that has been organised in Italy since 1920. Serie A is organised by Lega Basket, which is regulated by the Italian Basketball ...

. On June 17, 2024, he signed with

of the

Career statistics

College

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

, 33 , , 14 , , 15.7 , , .443 , , .333 , , .755 , , 2.8 , , 1.0 , , .6 , , .8 , , 5.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:center;" colspan="11",

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

, 6 , , 5 , , 14.7 , , .364 , , .214 , , .750 , , 3.8 , , 1.5 , , .2 , , .0 , , 5.0 , - , 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;",

, 22 , , 0 , , 15.9 , , .445 , , .298 , , .829 , , 5.3 , , 1.3 , , .3 , , .9 , , 7.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;", Xavier , 36 , , 19 , , 26.5 , , .548 , , .365 , , .706 , , 7.4 , , 1.1 , , .7 , , 1.4 , , 13.4 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2022–23 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;", Xavier , 34 , , 34 , , 29.0 , , .511 , , .366 , , .673 , , 7.7 , , 2.1 , , .9 , , 1.2 , , 13.8 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 70 , , 53 , , 27.7 , , .528 , , .365 , , .692 , , 7.6 , , 1.6 , , 0.8 , , 1.3 , , 13.6

Personal life

Nunge's father, Mark, was an

emergency physician An emergency physician (often called an "ER doctor" in the United States) is a physician who works in an emergency department to care for ill patients. The emergency physician specializes in advanced cardiac life support (advanced life support ...

and played basketball for the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded in 1850 and moved into its current campus, next to the Genesee River in 1930. With approximately 30,000 full ...

. On November 21, 2020, Mark died unexpectedly at age 53, causing Nunge to miss the first two games of his sophomore season at Iowa. His mother, Beth, played basketball and

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

for Central College. Nunge's sisters have 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 ...

at the college level: Rebecca at Notre Dame, and Jessica at

Florida State Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

and

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 ...

. His brother, Bob, also played for Xavier - he was a Junior during the 2023-24 season. His cousin, Chelsea Poppens, played in the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. The league comprises 13 teams (scheduled to expand to 15 in 2026). The WNBA is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan. The WNBA w ...

after a college career at

Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State be ...

References

External links

Xavier Musketeers bioIowa Hawkeyes bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nunge, Jack 1999 births Living people 21st-century American sportsmen American men's basketball players Basketball players from Indiana Basketball players from Virginia ESSM Le Portel players Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball players People from Newburgh, Indiana Power forwards Scafati Basket players Sportspeople from Lynchburg, Virginia Xavier Musketeers men's basketball players