Jamal Olasewere (born September 16, 1991) is a Nigerian 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

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 Italian Serie A2. He completed his college career at

Long Island University Long Island University (LIU) is a private university in Brooklyn and Brookville, New York, United States. The university enrolls over 16,000 students and offers over 500 academic programs at its main campuses, LIU Brooklyn and LIU Post on Long I ...

, where he was an

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

and Conference Player of the Year.

College career

Olasewere, a 6'7"

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

from

Silver Spring, Maryland Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially Unincorporated area, unincorporated, it is an edge city with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 ...

attended

Springbrook High School Springbrook High School is an American public high school, located in Montgomery County, Maryland, in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. It is located within the White Oak census-designated place, and has a Silver Spring mailing address. I ...

and chose Long Island for college. There, he was a four-year starter and led the Blackbirds to three consecutive NCAA tournament bids from 2011 to 2013. As a senior, Olasewere averaged 18.9

points A point is a small dot or the sharp tip of something. Point or points may refer to: Mathematics * Point (geometry), an entity that has a location in space or on a plane, but has no extent; more generally, an element of some abstract topologica ...

and 8.6

rebounds per game 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

and was named Northeast Conference player of the year and an honorable mention All-American by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

. For his career, Olasewere scored a school-record 1,871 points and collected 964 rebounds.

Professional career

In August 2013, Olasewere signed a one-year deal with the Italian League club

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 Lega Basket Serie A, LBA, the top Italian basketball league, for 12 years until 2021. From 1999 to 2011 the soci ...

. In August 2019, he signed with Úrvalsdeild karla club

Grindavík Grindavík () is a fishing town in the Southern Peninsula district of Iceland, not far from Þorbjörn, a tuya (a type of flat-topped, steep-sided volcano). It is one of the few towns with a harbour on this coast. Most of the inhabitants work ...

. On January 9, 2020, the team released him from his contract due to injuries. In 10 games, he averaged 18 points and 7 rebounds per game. On July 5, 2020, he has signed with ''Eurobasket Roma'' of the Italian Serie A2. Olasewere averaged 15.8 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game. On August 17, 2021, he signed with

Nigerian national team

Olasewere has also been a member of the senior men's

Nigerian national basketball team The Nigeria men's national basketball team represents Nigeria in international basketball, and it is governed by the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF). In March 2021, the global governing body FIBA ranked Nigeria as Africa's top men's baske ...

. He played at the

2015 FIBA Africa Championship AfroBasket 2015 was the 28th edition of the AfroBasket, a men's basketball continental championship of Africa. It also served as the qualifying tournament for FIBA Africa at the Basketball at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament, 2016 Sum ...

where they won the championship.

References

External links

Eurobasket.com ProfileLIU Athletic Profile
1991 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Belgium American expatriate basketball people in Iceland American expatriate basketball people in Israel American expatriate basketball people in Italy American basketball players of Nigerian descent American people of Yoruba descent American men's basketball players Blu Basket 1971 players Grindavík (men's basketball) players LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds men's basketball players Nigerian expatriate basketball people in Israel Nigerian expatriate basketball people in Italy Nigerian men's basketball players Virtus Roma players Basketball players from Silver Spring, Maryland Power forwards RBC Pepinster players Small forwards Úrvalsdeild karla (basketball) players NPC Rieti players 21st-century American sportsmen 21st-century Nigerian sportsmen {{1990s-US-basketball-bio-stub