Ricardo Preston Ratliffe (; born February 20, 1989) is an American-born South Korean 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 the

Magnolia Chicken Timplados Hotshots The Magnolia Chicken Timplados Hotshots, or simply known as the Magnolia Hotshots, are a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association. The team is owned by San Miguel Food and Beverage, San Miguel Food and Beverage, I ...

of the

Philippine Basketball Association The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines, composed of twelve company-branded Franchising, franchise teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first professional basketball league in Asia ...

(PBA). Ra played collegiately at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

Early life and college career

Ratliffe was born Ricardo Preston Ratliffe in

Hampton, Virginia Hampton is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 137,148 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, seve ...

, played at

Kecoughtan High School Kecoughtan High School ( ) is a public high school located in Hampton, Virginia. The current grades offered are 9–12. Kecoughtan High School is one of four high schools located in the Hampton City Public School District. The other three are ...

and the

College of Central Florida The College of Central Florida (CF) is a public college with campuses in Marion County, Florida, Marion, Citrus County, Florida, Citrus, and Levy County, Florida, Levy counties in the U.S. state of Florida. It is part of the Florida College Sys ...

. While there, he twice earned first team

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

All-American honors. He averaged 27.4

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 11.3 rebounds per game as a sophomore. To complete his college career, Ratliffe chose Missouri over

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

, Clemson and

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

. He averaged 10.6 points and 6.0 rebounds per game in his junior season and was named

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 ...

Newcomer of the Year. In his senior season, Ratliffe helped lead the Tigers to a 30–5 record and a Big 12 tournament championship. Ratliffe averaged 13.9 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game as the team's primary post presence. At the close of the season, Ratliffe was named second team All-Big 12. On the season, Ratliffe attained a 69.3%

field goal percentage Field goal percentage in basketball is the ratio of field goals made to field goals attempted. Its abbreviation is FG%. Although three-point field goal percentage is often calculated separately, three-point field goals are included in the gene ...

, which led the nation for the 2011–12 season and was a Missouri and Big 12 Conference record. Ratliffe spent much of the season chasing the all-time single-season NCAA record of 74.6%, held by Steve Johnson of

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees through all 11 of the universit ...

, leading the mark as late as February 2012. Following the close of the regular season, Ratliffe competed in the 2012

Reese's College All-Star Game The Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Reese's College All-Star Game, founded by the National Association of Basketball Coaches, NABC, is a men's college basketball game showcasing 20 of the best senior players in NCAA Division I. The two teams are coa ...

at the 2012 Final Four. He scored 21 points and collected 10 rebounds to earn the West team's "Perfect Player" award.

Professional career

Following the close of his college career, Ratliffe was not selected in the

2012 NBA draft The 2012 NBA draft was held on June 28, 2012, at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The draft started at 7:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time (2300 UTC), and was broadcast in the United States on ESPN. In this draft, National Basketball A ...

. However, he was the first American college player selected in the

Korean Basketball League The Korean Basketball League () or simply KBL is a professional men's basketball league in South Korea which was established in 1997. The league consists of ten teams and each team plays a total of 54 games (27 home and 27 away) in the regular s ...

. He was selected sixth overall by

Ulsan Mobis Phoebus The Ulsan Hyundai Mobis Phoebus is a professional basketball club in the Korean Basketball League. History Foundation and amateur era Before the professional Korean Basketball League was established in 1997, domestic basketball was an amateur s ...

and began his professional career with them in the 2012–13 season. In 2014, Ratliffe won the

William Jones Cup The William Jones Cup International Basketball Tournament (), also known as the William Jones Cup, is an international basketball tournament organized by the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association (CTBA) held annually since 1977 in sports, 1977 ...

MVP and joined teammates Chang Yong Song and Tae Young Moon on the tournament Best Five. At the William Jones Cup, He averaged 24.3 points, 15.7 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks per game. On March 5, 2016, Ratliffe was signed by

Star Hotshots The Magnolia Chicken Timplados Hotshots, or simply known as the Magnolia Hotshots, are a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association. The team is owned by San Miguel Food and Beverage, San Miguel Food and Beverage, I ...

of the

(PBA) to replace

Denzel Bowles Denzel Bowles (born May 1, 1989) is an American former professional basketball player. Professional career 2011–12 season Bowles began his professional career with BC Šiauliai of the Lithuanian League. There, he averaged 12.6 points per gam ...

who had to leave for the United States after the death of a relative. On May 9, 2017, Ratliffe was again called by the

as their import for the 2017 Commissioners Cup. On Game 2 of the 2017 semifinal round against the

San Miguel Beermen The San Miguel Beermen are a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). It is one of three PBA clubs owned by the San Miguel Corporation group of companies along with Barangay Ginebra San Miguel and Magnolia ...

, Ratliffe recorded 25 points and a career-high 35 rebounds in a 76–77 loss to the Beermen. On November 11, 2019,

Ulsan Hyundai Mobis Phoebus The Ulsan Hyundai Mobis Phoebus is a professional basketball club in the Korean Basketball League. History Foundation and amateur era Before the professional Korean Basketball League was established in 1997, domestic basketball was an amateur s ...

traded Ratliffe and Lee Dae-sung to

Jeonju KCC Egis The Busan KCC Egis () is a professional basketball club based in Busan, South Korea. The team competes in the Korean Basketball League (KBL) and has established a substantial fanbase in South Korea. Founded in 1997, the team was initially based i ...

. Ratliffe re-signed with Jeonju KCC Egis on September 26, 2020. Ratliffe averaged 17 points, 10.3 rebounds, one steal and 1.3 blocks per game. On July 16, 2024, Ratliffe signed with Changsha Wantian Yongsheng of the National Basketball League. He averaged 11.83 points, 6.75 rebounds, 1.42 assists in 20.41 minutes in 12 games.

National team career

In January 2018, Ratliffe became a naturalized South Korean. Ratliffe played for the South Korean national team against the North Korean national team in

Pyongyang Arena Ryugyong Chung Ju-yung Gymnasium is an indoor sporting arena located in Pyongyang, North Korea. The capacity of the arena is 12,309 and it was built in 2003. It is used to host indoor sporting events, such as basketball and volleyball as well as ...

Pyongyang Pyongyang () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is sometimes labeled as the "Capital of the Revolution" (). Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. Accordi ...

, during a July 2018 friendly match. He was given the Korean name Ra Gun-ah after he was naturalized. At the

2019 FIBA World Cup The 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup was the 18th tournament of the FIBA Basketball World Cup for men's national basketball teams, held from 31 August to 15 September 2019. The tournament was hosted in China and was rescheduled from 2018 to 2019, b ...

, although playing in only five games, Ratliffe led the tournament with 23.0 points and 12.8 rebounds per game. The South Korean national team finished the tournament in 26th place of 32 teams, after being eliminated in preliminary group.

References

External links

Missouri Tigers bio

asia-basket.commprofile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ratliffe, Ricardo 1989 births Living people 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup players American emigrants to South Korea American expatriate basketball people in the Philippines American expatriate basketball people in South Korea American men's basketball players Basketball players at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games bronze medalists for South Korea Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games medalists in basketball Basketball players from Hampton, Virginia College of Central Florida Patriots men's basketball players Magnolia Hotshots players Missouri Tigers men's basketball players Naturalized citizens of South Korea Philippine Basketball Association imports Power forwards Seoul Samsung Thunders players South Korean men's basketball players South Korean people of African-American descent Ulsan Hyundai Mobis Phoebus players Naturalised basketball players Basketball players at the 2022 Asian Games Hunan Changsha Yongsheng players American expatriate basketball people in China 21st-century South Korean sportsmen