Matthew Wayne Freije (born October 2, 1981) is a Lebanese/ American former professional basketball player. Freije attended

Shawnee Mission West High School Shawnee Mission West High School is a fully accredited public high school located in Overland Park, Kansas, United States, serving students in grades 9-12. Shawnee Mission West is one of several public high schools located within Overland Park a ...

Overland Park, Kansas Overland Park ( ) is the largest city in Johnson County, Kansas, United States, and the List of cities in Kansas#Highest population listing, second-most populous city in the state of Kansas. It is one of four principal city, principal cities in ...

before attending

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

where he was an All-SEC performer. He was selected 53rd overall in the

2004 NBA draft The 2004 NBA draft was held on June 24, 2004, at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City, and was broadcast live on ESPN at 7:00 pm ( EDT). In this draft, National Basketball Association teams took turns selecting amateur colle ...

by the

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern C ...

, was then released and later played for the

New Orleans Hornets New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

. He played 19 games for the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Easte ...

during the 2006–07 season but was waived in December 2006 to clear a roster spot for Slava Medvedenko.

College career

Freije played for the

Commodores men's basketball team from 2000 to 2004. He chose to come to Vanderbilt due to his relationship with head basketball coach

Kevin Stallings Kevin Eugene Stallings (born October 1, 1960) is an American former basketball coach, who formerly served as the head coach at Illinois State University, Vanderbilt University and the University of Pittsburgh. He was an assistant coach at Purdue ...

. In 2004, he was named First Team All- SEC and led the Commodores to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1993. He left Vanderbilt as the leading scorer in school history, having surpassed Phil Cox in 2004. His record was broken in 2008 by Shan Foster. Freije's tremendous career as a Commodore was highlighted by his senior year campaign, where he led Vanderbilt to a 23–10 record and a trip to the 2004 NCAA Tournament as a 6 seed. During the regular season, Freije had four thirty-point games, 32 vs. Indiana on November 24, 31 vs. Tennessee Tech on December 13, 32 vs. Alabama on Feb 18 and 31 vs. North Carolina State on Mar. 21. The Commodores started the season 12–0 until losing at Kentucky on Jan. 10. Vanderbilt, however, got its revenge three weeks later at home with a 66–60 victory over the #5 ranked Wildcats in a game where Freije scored 20 points and had 11 rebounds. Vanderbilt would subsequently advance to the NCAA Tournament, and following a first round win over Western Michigan, Freije led the Commodores to the Sweet Sixteen following a stunning comeback victory over the 3 seed North Carolina State Wolfpack, a game where the Commodores rallied from an eleven-point deficit in the final 3:45 of the gam

Freije scored 31 points during the victory, including 11 during the final 3:28 of the game. During his 1st team All-SEC senior season, he posted averages of 18.4 ppg along with 5.4 rpg.

Professional career

After being drafted 53rd and subsequently released by the Miami Heat before the start of the season, Freije latched on with the New Orleans Hornets during the 2004–05 season, where he appeared in 23 games—11 of which he started. He averaged 4.0 points and 2.7 rebounds before being released later in the season. On December 26, 2004, Freije set his career high for both points and rebounds by registering 12 points and 11 rebounds in a 100–91 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. One year later, during the 2006–07 season, Freije was signed by the Atlanta Hawks and appeared in 19 games and averaged 2.1 points per game. His best day as a Hawk was on December 10, 2006, when he shot 4–5 from the field en route to an 8-point, 5-rebound day against the Sacramento Kings. During his NBA career Freije appeared in 42 games and averaged 3.2 points and 2.0 rebounds per game. Freije played for the Milwaukee Bucks summer league team in Las Vegas, Nevada. During his first game with the team, he finished second on the team in scoring with 11 points on 4–6 shooting (3–4 from three-point range) in an 88–79 loss to the Memphis Grizzlie

Throughout the NBA's Summer League in Vegas, Freije shot 58.6% from the field and 60% from three-point range, en route to averaging 11.8 points per game for the Bucks, who finished 4–1 during Vegas Summer League play. Freije finished second on the team in scoring and blocked shots per game and first in field goal percentage and three-point field goal percentage in only 21.5 minutes per game. In the months leading up to his 2009 Summer League play with the Portland Trail Blazers, Freije was playing for Criollos de Caguas (basketball), Criollos de Caguas of the BSN. After the

2009 FIBA Asia Championship The 2009 in sports, 2009 FIBA Asia Championship for Men was the biennial Asian continental championship and also served as the FIBA Asia qualifying tournament for the 2010 FIBA World Championship. The tournament was held from August 6 to 16, 2009 i ...

Matt signed with Lebanese champions

Sporting Al Riyadi Beirut Al Riyadi Club Beirut (), commonly known simply as Al Riyadi, is a multi-sports club team based in Manara, a district in Beirut, Lebanon. Founded in 1934, the multi-sports club, which is mainly known for their basketball program, also plays p ...

. Matt returned to

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

for the 2012–13 season and signed with Amchit Club in the

Lebanese Basketball League The Lebanese Basketball League is recognized as the top-tier professional men's basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Lebanon. It is organized annually as a national championship with playoffs and a national cup by the Lebanese Basketb ...

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

, - , align="left" , 2004–05 , align="left" ,

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, 23 , , 11 , , 19.2 , , .291 , , .259 , , .625 , , 2.7 , , .9 , , .6 , , .1 , , 4.0 , - , align="left" , 2006–07 , align="left" ,

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, 19 , , 0 , , 7.7 , , .296 , , .136 , , .833 , , 1.2 , , .4 , , .2 , , .1 , , 2.1 , - , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 42 , , 11 , , 14.0 , , .293 , , .224 , , .714 , , 2.0 , , .6 , , .4 , , .1 , , 3.2

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2000–01 , style="text-align:left;", Vanderbilt , 27 , , 18 , , 23.9 , , .497 , , .390 , , .792 , , 4.4 , , .6 , , .2 , , 1.0 , , 10.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2001–02 , style="text-align:left;", Vanderbilt , 32 , , 32 , , 29.3 , , .466 , , .340 , , .768 , , 5.1 , , 1.1 , , .8 , , .3 , , 15.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2002–03 , style="text-align:left;", Vanderbilt , 29 , , 28 , , 31.1 , , .443 , , .351 , , .798 , , 4.4 , , 1.1 , , .9 , , .4 , , 17.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2003–04 , style="text-align:left;", Vanderbilt , 33 , , 33 , , 29.8 , , .415 , , .356 , , .788 , , 5.4 , , .9 , , .7 , , .6 , , 18.4 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 121 , , 111 , , 28.7 , , .448 , , .355 , , .786 , , 4.9 , , .9 , , .7 , , .6 , , 15.6

References

External links

*
Profile
at Eurobasket.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Freije, Matt 1981 births Living people 2010 FIBA World Championship players All-American college men's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in China American expatriate basketball people in Georgia (country) American expatriate basketball people in Germany American expatriate basketball people in Greece American expatriate basketball people in Lebanon American expatriate basketball people in Uruguay American men's basketball players Artland Dragons players Atlanta Hawks players Basketball players from Kansas Basketball players from North Dakota Beijing Royal Fighters players Fujian Sturgeons players Greek Basket League players Guaiqueríes de Margarita players Idaho Stampede (CBA) players Lebanese men's basketball players Lebanese people of American descent Leones de Ponce basketball players Maratonistas de Coamo players Miami Heat draft picks New Orleans Hornets players Olympiacos B.C. players Sportspeople from Overland Park, Kansas Power forwards Vanderbilt Commodores men's basketball players Al Riyadi Club Beirut basketball players Criollos de Caguas basketball players Brujos de Guayama players Mets de Guaynabo basketball players Naturalised basketball players Hebraica Macabi players Amchit Club players