Matthew Thomas Lojeski (born July 24, 1985) is an American-Belgian former 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

AEK Athens A.E.K. (; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople'') is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelfeia, Attica. The club is more commonly known in European competitions as A.E.K. Athens. Establishe ...

of the

Greek Basket League The Greek Basketball League (GBL), and also known as the Stoiximan Greek Basketball League (GBL) for sponsorship reasons, is the Greek basketball league system, first tier level professional basketball league in Greece. It is run by the ...

and the

Basketball Champions League The Basketball Champions League (BCL), also commonly known as the FIBA Champions League, is an annual professional basketball competition for European sports club, clubs, organised by FIBA. It is the European professional club basketball system ...

. He also represents the senior men's Belgian national basketball team. Standing at , and weighing 92 kg (203 lbs.), he plays at the

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game ...

and

small forward The small forward (SF), also known as the three, is one of the five Basketball position, positions in a regulation basketball game. Small forwards are typically shorter, quicker, and leaner than Power forward (basketball), power forwards and Cent ...

positions.

High school career

Lojeski played high school basketball at St. Catherine's High School in

Racine, Wisconsin Racine ( ) is a city in Racine County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the shore of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Root River (Wisconsin), Root River, south of Milwaukee and north of Chicago. It is the List ...

. While in high school, Lojeski played

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

, and

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

, and also competed in cross country sports. As a basketball player, he was named All-County and All-Conference twice, and All-State once. As a baseball player, he was named All-Conference twice.

College career

Lojeski 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 ...

Eastern Wyoming College Eastern Wyoming College (EWC) is a public community college in Torrington, Wyoming, with a satellite campus in Douglas, Wyoming. The college has outreach centers in Chugwater, Glendo, Guernsey, Hulett, Lusk, Moorcroft, Newcastle, Sundance, ...

(

NJCAA The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) is the governing association of community college, State college (disambiguation), state college, and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 sepa ...

) from 2003 to 2005. At Eastern Wyoming, he was named to the NJCAA All-Tournament Team in 2004, and to the NJCAA All-American Third Team in 2005. After being recruited by the

Utah State Aggies The Utah State Aggies are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Utah State University, located in Logan, Utah. Utah State fields 16 – seven men and nine women – National Collegiate Athletic ...

and the DePaul Blue Demons, Lojeski ultimately decided to play at the

University of Hawaii A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

(

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

), where he played with the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors, from 2005 to 2007. While at Hawaii, he was selected to the

Great Alaska Shootout The Great Alaska Shootout is an annual women's college basketball tournament in Anchorage, Alaska that features host University of Alaska Anchorage and three visiting NCAA Division I teams. The four-team tournament resumed in 2022 following a ...

's All-Tournament Team, and was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Rainbow Classic in 2006. He was also selected to the All- WAC Newcomer Team in 2006. He was named to the All- WAC Second Team in 2007.

Professional career

Lojeski began his pro career in 2007, with the

Belgian League The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023– ...

club

Okapi Aalst Okapi Aalst is a Belgian professional basketball club from Aalst, Belgium. The club competes in the top tier BNXT League and plays its home games in the Okapi Forum, which has a seating capacity of 2,800 people. Okapi is a long-time participant ...

. While a member of the Aalst team, he was named the Belgian League MVP in 2009. He then moved to the Belgian League club Oostende. With Oostende, he won the

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (; ; ) is the main knockout football competition in Belgium, run by the Royal Belgian FA. The competition started in 1908 with provincial selections as the "Belgian Provinces Cup". Starting from 1912 only actual clubs were allowed ...

in 2010 and 2013, and the Belgian League championship in 2012 and 2013. He was also named the Belgian Cup MVP in 2013, and the Belgian League MVP the same year. On July 31, 2013, Lojeski signed a two-year contract with the back-to-back defending

EuroLeague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

champions

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...

. On November 16, 2014, he extended his contract with Olympiacos until 2017. With Olympiacos, he won the 2013 edition of the

FIBA Intercontinental Cup The FIBA Intercontinental Cup, previously known to as the FIBA World Cup for Champion Clubs and the FIBA Club World Cup, is an annual international men's basketball competition organised by FIBA, the sport's global governing body. The competit ...

, and the Greek League championship in 2015 and 2016. Lojeski has also played in the

NBA Summer League The NBA Summer League, also known as the Las Vegas Summer League, is an off-season basketball competition organized by the National Basketball Association (NBA). NBA teams come together to try out different summer rosters instead of their regula ...

, with the Summer League teams of the

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference. Since the 1991–92 season, the ...

and

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

. On August 12, 2017, Lojeski signed a one-year deal with Greek club Panathinaikos. In his very first year in Greens, he won the

Greek Championship The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repl ...

. In the 5th final (best-of-five-series) against Olympiakos,
84:70
Matt had 12 points, four rebounds and four assists. Lojeski renewed his contract with Panathinaikos for another season on July 28, 2018. On February 17, 2019, he won the

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

title after Panathinaikos beat

PAOK PAOK (, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινοπολιτών, ''Panthessalonikeios Athlitikós Ómilos Constantinopoliton'', ''Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans''), commonly ...

(79:73) in the big final, held in

Heraklion Heraklion or Herakleion ( ; , , ), sometimes Iraklion, is the largest city and the administrative capital city, capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion (regional unit), Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in G ...

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

. At the end of the season, Matt won another

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

with the Greens (3rd in a row and 38th trophy for Panathinaikos) having 8.7 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 17.9 minutes per game. Panathinaikos beat Promitheas in the play-off final series with 3-0 victories. On August 5, 2019, he signed with

Tofaş TOFAŞ Türk Otomobil Fabrikası A.Ş (acronym for ''Türk Otomobil Fabrikası Anonim Şirketi''; ''Turkish Automobile Factory Joint-Stock Company'' pronounced ) is a Turkish automobile manufacturer which was established in 1968 by Vehbi Koç, ...

of the Turkish

Basketbol Süper Ligi The Basketball Super League (; TBSL), also known as the Türkiye Sigorta Basketbol Süper Ligi for sponsorship reasons, is the top men's professional basketball division of the Turkish basketball league system. It replaced the former Turkish Bas ...

. On July 26, 2020, Lojeski agreed to return to Greece, this time for

National team career

Lojeski received Belgian nationality in May 2013, making him eligible to play for the senior men's Belgian national basketball team. After playing in the team's preparation stage in several friendly games, he was selected to play for Belgium at the

EuroBasket 2013 EuroBasket 2013 was the 38th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe. It took place from 4 September until 22 September 2013 in Slovenia. The number of participating teams was 24. France men's national basketball ...

. However, he could not play at the tournament, due to an injury. He made his debut in an official tournament with Belgium, at

EuroBasket 2015 EuroBasket 2015 was the 39th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe. It was co-hosted by Croatia, France, Germany, and Latvia, making it the first EuroBasket held in more than one country. It started on 5 Sept ...

. On September 7, 2015, during EuroBasket 2015, he hit a buzzer-beating tip-in against

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

, which gave Belgium a 76–74 win. Belgium ended the competition at the tournament's Round of 16, where they lost to

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, by a score of 75–54. Over 6 EuroBasket 2015 tournament games, Lojeski averaged 11.7 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.8 assists per game, on 49.1% shooting from the field.

Career statistics

EuroLeague

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2013–14 , style="text-align:left;" rowspan=4,

, 29 , , 13 , , 25.0 , , .518 , , .430 , , .778 , , 4.0 , , 2.0 , , .6 , , .1 , , 11.1 , , 12.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2014–15 , 25 , , 7 , , 24.2 , , .489 , , .432 , , .625 , , 3.8 , , 1.6 , , 1.0 , , .3 , , 9.5 , , 10.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2015–16 , 11 , , 3 , , 21.6 , , .506 , , .450 , , .813 , , 3.5 , , 2.5 , , .5 , , .1 , , 10.1 , , 12.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , 26 , , 2 , , 21.4 , , .494 , , .420 , , .827 , , 3.1 , , 1.6 , , .5 , , .3 , , 9.9 , , 11.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;" rowspan=2, Panathinaikos , 27 , , 18 , , 18.3 , , .467 , , .455 , , .700 , , 2.4 , , .7 , , .3 , , .1 , , 5.7 , , 4.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , 25 , , 6 , , 15.9 , , .517 , , .356 , , .920 , , 2.2 , , .9 , , .2 , , .1 , , 6.5 , , 6.3 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan=2 , Career , 143 , , 49 , , 22.1 , , .499 , , .426 , , .790 , , 3.1 , , 1.5 , , .5 , , .2 , , 8.7 , , 9.4

Awards and accomplishments

College

All-Tournament Team: (2004) *

All-American Third Team: (2005) *

All-Tournament Team: (2006) *Rainbow Classic Most Outstanding Player: (2006) *All- WAC Newcomer Team: (2006) *All- WAC Second Team: (2007)

Pro career

*2× Belgian League MVP: (2009, 2013) *2×

Winner: (2010, 2013) *2×

Champion: (2012, 2013) * Belgian Cup MVP: (2013) *

Champion: (

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

) *

EuroLeague Finals The EuroLeague Finals are the championship finals of the EuroLeague competition. The EuroLeague is European professional club basketball pyramid, the highest level tier, and most important professional sports, professional sports club, club bask ...

Top Scorer: (

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

) *4× Greek League Champion: (2015, 2016, 2018, 2019) * Greek League Finals MVP: (2019)

References

Sports Reference Sports Reference, LLC is an American sports statistics company that operates databases of several sports. They include Pro Football Reference for American football, Baseball Reference for baseball, Basketball Reference for basketball, Hockey ...

Matt Lojeski
at tblstat.net * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lojeski, Matt 1985 births Living people 21st-century Belgian sportsmen American expatriate basketball people in Belgium American expatriate basketball people in Greece American men's basketball players Basketball players from Racine, Wisconsin BC Oostende players Belgian men's basketball players Hawaii Rainbow Warriors basketball players Junior college men's basketball players in the United States Okapi Aalstar players Olympiacos B.C. players Panathinaikos B.C. players Shooting guards Small forwards Tofaş S.K. players