Ronnie Allen McCollum II (born December 28, 1978) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. McCollum has had a successful international career, but it was his collegiate career playing for the Centenary Gentlemen basketball team between 1997–98 and 2000–01 for which he is best known.

Early life

McCollum was born in

Tuscaloosa, Alabama Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal Plain, Gulf Coastal and Piedmont (United States), Piedm ...

, but grew up in Fayette. He attended Fayette County High School from 1993–94 to 1996–97 where he was a star basketball player. He averaged 17

points per game Points per game, often abbreviated PPG, is the average number of points scored by a player or team per game played in a sport, over the course of a series of games, a whole season, or a career. It is calculated by dividing the total number of poi ...

(ppg) as a

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or colloquially frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational in ...

, 20 ppg as a

sophomore In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of Post-secondary school, post-secondary educatio ...

, 22 ppg as a

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Aircraft * Ekolot JK-05L Junior, a Polish ultralight aircraft * PZL-112 Junior, a Polish training aircraft * SZD-51 Junior, a Polish-made training and club glider Arts and entertainment Characters * Bowser Jr., ...

and then finished second in the state in scoring as a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

with 30 ppg. In his final two seasons, McCollum was a 5A All-State selection and conference

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

awardee as FCHS finished ranked in the top five in the state. For his high school career, he recorded 2,204 points, 750 rebounds, 400 assists and 150 steals. McCollum signed to play

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

Division I basketball at the

Centenary College of Louisiana Centenary College of Louisiana is a private liberal arts college in Shreveport, Louisiana. The college is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Founded in 1825, it is the oldest chartered liberal arts college west of the Mississippi Rive ...

on April 23, 1997.

College career

McCollum made an immediate impact at Centenary as he led the team in scoring at 17.5 ppg during his freshman season. He made 101

three-point field goal A three-point field goal (also 3-pointer, three, or triple) is a field goal in a basketball game made from beyond the three-point line, a designated arc surrounding the basket. A successful attempt is worth three points, in contrast to the two ...

s, which set school and

Trans America Athletic Conference The Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) is a collegiate athletic conference operating mostly in the Southeastern United States. The league participates at the NCAA Division I level, and began sponsoring football at the Division I FCS level in 2022. ...

(TAAC) records, and was selected to the All-TAAC Second Team, All-Newcomer Team and the All-Louisiana Third Team. As a sophomore in 1998–99, he repeated as the team's scoring leader while averaging 19.4 ppg. He also finished 11th in the nation in

free throw In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the restricted area. Free throws ...

shooting percentage (87.4%). McCollum's junior season in 1999–2000 saw him burst onto the national scene as he finished third in the country in scoring at 23.8 ppg. He finished 11th in three-pointers made per game (3.3) and scored 30 or more points in a game five times. He was named to the All-Independent First Team and was the Independent Conference Player of the Year runner-up. McCollum also hit back-to-back game-winning three-point shots against

Southwest Texas State Texas State University (TXST) is a public research university with its main campus in San Marcos, Texas, United States, and another campus in Round Rock. Since its establishment in 1899, the university has grown to be one of the largest univer ...

and

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

. The following year—his senior season—he continued to score in high numbers and finished as the nation's leading scorer with a 29.1 ppg average, which was 5.3 points per game more than the second highest scorer (

Eastern Illinois Eastern Illinois University (EIU) is a public university in Charleston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1895 as the Eastern Illinois State Normal School, a teacher's college offering a two-year degree, Eastern Illinois University gradual ...

Kyle Hill Kyle Eric Hill (born April 7, 1979) is an American retired professional basketball player. He was picked by the Dallas Mavericks in the 2001 NBA draft with the 44th overall draft pick. Hill's NBA rights were then traded by the Mavericks shortly ...

averaged 23.8). McCollum was an Honorable Mention All-America selection and named to the All-Independent Conference First Team. He set a school single season record with 787 points, and he was selected as the 2001 Louisiana Player of the Year by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association. McCollum finished his Centenary College career with 2,524 points, 400 rebounds and 119 assists in 113 career games. He fell 12 points shy of breaking the school's all-time career scoring record of 2,535 set by Willie Jackson between 1980–81 and 1983–84.

Professional career

After graduating college with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in Health and Science Exercise, McCollum played for the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Founded in 1946 i ...

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 ...

. He had gone undrafted in the

2001 NBA draft The 2001 NBA draft took place on June 27, 2001, in New York City, New York. Kwame Brown became the first high school player to be drafted with the first overall pick in the history of the NBA. The selection of Kwame Brown by the Washington Wizar ...

, and when no teams signed him as a free agent, he took his game abroad. Between 2001–02 and 2009–10, McCollum played for seven teams in five countries, (

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

and

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

.) He won the Belgian 2nd Division league championship in 2008–09 and was named the season MVP, Guard of the Year and Import Player of the Year while averaging 14 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.4 assists, and 1.6 steals per game. The only season McCollum has missed since turning professional was in 2005–06. He had signed a contract in

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; Franco-Provençal: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the prefecture of the Loire département, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regi ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, but he ruptured his

Achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcane ...

in the third practice of the season. Up through the 2008–09 basketball season, McCollum holds professional career averages of 17.8 points, 3.5 rebounds 1.7 assists and 2.6 threes made per game.

Coaching career

On April 9, 2017, McCollum was announced as the new head coach for

Limburg United Limburg United, for sponsorship reasons named Hubo Limburg United, is a professional basketball club based in Hasselt, Limburg, Belgium. Founded in 2014, the club plays in the BNXT League, the first tier of basketball in Belgium. The team plays i ...

of the

Belgian Basketball League The Pro Basketball League (PBL), was the highest tier level professional basketball league in Belgium for clubs. In 2021, the league was succeeded by the Belgian-Dutch BNXT League. The league is organized by the Basketball League Belgium. The c ...

for the 2017–18 season. On November 17, 2017, McCollum was fired by Limburg after a 2–6 start.

Honors and awards

;High school *Sectional champion (1994) *2× conference MVP *4× all-conference selection *4× all-area performer *Second in state scoring average (1997) *2× top five team in state (1996, 1997) ;College *4× Centenary leading scorer *4× All-Conference (inc. Independent) *School record for points in a season (787) *Fifth most three-pointers in a season by a freshman in NCAA history (101) *School record 345 three-pointers *Nation's leading scorer as a senior (29.1 ppg) **Also led in free throws made (214) **Fifth in free throw shooting percentage (90.7%) *Honorable Mention All-America (2001) *2001 Louisiana Player Of The Year *Shreveport, Louisiana named March 13, 2001 as "Ronnie McCollum Day" ;Professional *League all-star (2003, 2004) *First team All-Import and Second Team All-Portugal (2004) *Free throw percentage leader (2004) *Belgian league season record of 88 three-pointers (2005) *Led Belgian league in three-pointers made 3and second in three-point percentage (2007) *Team's best overall league record (2009) **League champion (2009) **MVP, guard of the year and import player of the year (2009)

Personal

McCollum has one daughter and son by his wife, Miek, whom he met while playing in Belgium. He is an only child of parents Ronnie and Beverly McCollum. His uncle is Cedric Wright, who was a standout defensive

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player at

Memphis State The University of Memphis (Memphis) is a public research university in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1912, the university has an enrollment of more than 20,000 students. The university maintains the Herff College of Engineering ...

and is still ranked in the top 10 for many defensive statistical categories, while his cousin is Mike Davis, the current head men's basketball coach for the

Detroit Mercy Titans The Detroit Mercy Titans (formerly known as the Detroit Titans) are the athletic teams of University of Detroit Mercy. The university is a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. The school primarily competes in ...

References

External links

College statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCollum, Ronnie 1978 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Austria American expatriate basketball people in Belgium American expatriate basketball people in China American expatriate basketball people in Cyprus American expatriate basketball people in Portugal Basketball players from Alabama American men's basketball players Centenary Gentlemen basketball players Liaoning Flying Leopards players People from Fayette, Alabama Point guards Shooting guards Sportspeople from Tuscaloosa, Alabama ETHA Engomis players