Zachary Elias Auguste (

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: Ζαχαρίας Ηλίας "Ζακ" Όγκαστ; born July 8, 1993) is a

Greek-American Greek Americans ( ''Ellinoamerikanoí'' ''Ellinoamerikánoi'' ) are Americans of full or partial Greek ancestry. There is an estimate of 1.2 million Americans of full or partial Greek ancestry. According to the US census, 264,066 people o ...

Zach Auguste got the Greek passport.
/ref>Έλληνας και επίσημα ο Όγκαστ! .
/ref> 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 SeaHorses Mikawa of the B.League. He is a center. Born in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

, Auguste started playing high school basketball for Marlborough. In 2011, he moved to the university preparatory

New Hampton School New Hampton School is an independent university-preparatory school, college preparatory high school in New Hampton, New Hampshire, United States. It has 330 students from over 30 states and 22 countries. The average class size is eleven, and the ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

, where he was nominated for the 2012 McDonald's All-American Game. After graduating from New Hampton, Auguste enrolled in the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

, to play

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 ...

for the Fighting Irish. Spending his freshman and sophomore seasons mainly as a reserve player, Auguste rose to prominence during his junior season in 2014–15, when his team won the ACC tournament title, and went to the NCAA Elite Eight. He has one kid with girlfriend, Paris Vaughn.

High school career

Auguste played at Marlborough High School for three seasons, growing 3 inches in each of these seasons. As a junior in 2009–10, Auguste averaged 22 points and received All-Star accolades from the Mid-Wachusett (Central Massachusetts) league and local newspapers the

Telegram & Gazette The ''Telegram & Gazette'' (and ''Sunday Telegram'') is the only daily newspaper of Worcester, Massachusetts. The paper, headquartered at 100 Front Street and known locally as ''the Telegram'' or the ''T & G'', offers coverage of all of Worceste ...

and

The MetroWest Daily News ''The MetroWest Daily News'' is an American daily newspaper published in Framingham, Massachusetts, serving the MetroWest region of suburban Boston. The newspaper is owned by Gannett. The newspaper covers several cities and towns in Norfolk, M ...

. He scored a total 631 points throughout his career at Marlborough. He moved to university preparatory

after that season, reclassifying to the class of 2012. He cited his desire to get academically and physically ready for college as the main factors behind that decision. After adapting to the higher competition level, he improved dramatically in time, putting on 28 pounds and developing his post game to transition from a perimeter player to a forward. He finished with an average of 15 points and 8 rebounds for his senior season. Nominated for the 2012 McDonald's All-American Boys Game, he didn't make the final selection. Soon after joining New Hampton, he was noticed by

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

(ACC) conference Notre Dame's assistant coach Anthony Solomon, however he later cut the school from his selection list, which included Division I schools

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

and Marquette. Despite this, Solomon's steadfast attempts to recruit the player, widely ranked a 4-star recruit, convinced Auguste to visit the campus; he committed to Notre Dame on the spot in September 2011.

College career

Auguste made his debut for Notre Dame in a November 12, 2012 victory against

Monmouth Monmouth ( or ; ) is a market town and community (Wales), community in Monmouthshire, Wales, situated on where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. The population in the 2011 census was 10,508, rising from 8 ...

, contributing 4 points and 3 rebounds in 3 minutes. After two ankle sprains during pre-season practice, Auguste had difficulty breaking into the already established team. Finding himself behind Jack Cooley and Garrick Sherman in the rotation, he averaged 10.7 minutes per game in 25 games. Notable were games against Kennesaw State (12 points and 7 rebounds in 12 minutes) and Marquette (a season-high 15 points with 5 rebounds and 3 steals in 21 minutes), for a freshman season average of 3.7 points and 2.7 rebounds. For the 2013–14 season, Auguste was expected to play a larger role after Cooley graduated and coach

Mike Brey Michael Paul Brey (born March 22, 1959) is an American basketball coach (sport), coach. Currently an assistant coach for the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association, he was previously the men's head basketball coach at the Universit ...

cited him as a major player. Though he did start 13 games out of 30, he stayed third choice with Sherman and Tom Knight preferred. He recorded his first college double-double against Clemson having 14 points and 12 rebounds, followed by no-shows. He finished his sophomore season with 6.7 points and 4.3 rebounds in nearly 17 minutes per game on average. Tabbed as a starter during the preseason, Auguste, as one of the team's few post options, established himself as a starter during his junior season with good performances early in the season, albeit against weaker opposition. A memorable December 13, 2014 game against

Florida State Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

, in which he scored a career-high 26 points, started what coach Brey described as a run of key contributions from the forward, with Auguste quickly recouping from his bad performances. In January 2015, Auguste was sidelined by Notre Dame due to academic issues, with the length of the suspension undisclosed. It would ultimately only last three days, with the unknown reason later described as minor by the player. Auguste was seen as a major contributor to the Irish's 2015 ACC tournament title contributing 16 points and 13 rebounds in the final against

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

(for an average of more than 11 points and 9 rebounds in the whole tournament). In the Round of 64 of the following 2015 NCAA tournament, Auguste scored 25 points against Northeastern, including two under-pressure free-throws in the final minute of a 69–65 close-fought win. In the next round tie against Butler, he committed a double dribble that conceded possession with two seconds left on the clock in a tied 55–55 game. Butler did not score, and in overtime Auguste blocked a shot before grabbing a rebound – a team-leading 13th – as Notre Dame won to reach the Sweet 16. A comfortable win over Wichita State followed (15 points, 6 rebounds and 1 block for Auguste in 26 minutes) and Notre Dame qualified to the

Elite Eight In the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, NCAA men's Division I basketball championship or the NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, NCAA women's Division I basketball championship, the "Elite Eight" comprises the final eight t ...

for the first time since 1979. Auguste, described as "Notre Dame's only true post player", was predicted to play an important role in the game against undefeated

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

, who – in Karl-Anthony Towns and Willie Cauley-Stein – had some of the biggest forwards of the tournament. He had 20 points and nine rebounds in the game, while mostly defended by Towns. In defense against the same player, he could not stop him from scoring 25 points in a to-the-wire 66–68 loss to the favorites. Auguste finished the tournament with 16.8 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, with 12.9 points and 6.5 rebounds in around 24 minutes for the whole 2014–15 season. Auguste was elected

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

by his teammates for his senior season. He was also voted to the Preseason All-ACC second team. Seven games into the 2015–16 season, Auguste tallied his fifth double-double of the season, tying the total of his first three seasons. He was named as one of ten finalists for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award, also earning third team all-ACC honors for the season. In the quarter-final of the 2016 ACC tournament Auguste led his team to an 84–79 win versus

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

, posting a double-double with 19 points and 22 rebounds, setting the Notre Dame's record for most rebounds in a game and tying Tim Duncan's second best performance in the ACC Tournament.

College statistics

Source: , - , align="left" , 2012–13 , align="left" , Notre Dame , 25 , , 0 , , 10.7 , , .520 , , .000 , , .682 , , 2.7 , , .2 , , .4 , , .5 , , 3.7 , - , align="left" , 2013–14 , align="left" , Notre Dame , 30 , , 13 , , 16.3 , , .509 , , .000 , , .483 , , 4.3 , , .3 , , .4 , , .4 , , 6.7 , - , align="left" , 2014–15 , align="left" , Notre Dame , 37, , 36 , , 24.4 , , .619 , , .000 , , .636 , , 6.5, , .8 , , .7 , , .7, , 12.9 , - , align="left" , 2015–16 , align="left" , Notre Dame , 36 , , 36 , , 29.6 , , .560 , , .000 , , .628 , , 10.7 , , 1.1 , , .6 , , 1.1 , , 14.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 128 , , 85 , , 21.3 , , .567 , , .000 , , .613, , 6.4, , .6, , .5, , .7, , 10.0 , -

Professional career

2016–2017 season

After not being drafted in the 2016 NBA draft, Auguste joined the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

' summer league squad for the 2016 Las Vegas Summer League. He appeared in 4 games, and averaged 5.3 points and 4 rebounds per game. On August 29, 2016, he signed a contract with the Lakers, but he was waived on October 12, without playing in any regular season NBA games with the team. On October 27, he signed with Muratbey Uşak Sportif of the

Turkish Super League Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The ...

, for the 2016–17 season. He made his professional debut on November 5, 2016, going scoreless against İstanbul BŞB, in a Turkish BSL game. In January 2017, Auguste scored 31 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, to help his team get past Polish team Rosa Radom, which earned him the Game Day 11 MVP award of the Champions League 2016–17 season. He averaged 11.7 points, 7.5 rebounds, 0.6 assists, 0.7 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game, in 23 games played in the Turkish Super League. He also averaged 13.4 points, 8.8 rebounds, 0.6 assists, 0.5 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game, in 11 games played in the European-wide 3rd-tier level Champions League. After his club was parachuted down into the European-wide 4th-tier level FIBA Europe Cup, he averaged 17.8 points, 8.5 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 1.5 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game, in 4 games played in the FIBA Europe Cup 2016–17 season.

2017–2018 season

Auguste then played with 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 ...

's summer league squad for the 2017 Las Vegas Summer League. He averaged 10 points, 5.2 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 0.4 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game in the Las Vegas Summer League, and 7.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, 0.3 assists, 2.0 steals, and 0.3 blocks per game in the Orlando Summer League. On June 30, 2017, Auguste signed a one-year deal with Greek club Panathinaikos, at a salary of €500,000

euros The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

net income In business and Accountancy, accounting, net income (also total comprehensive income, net earnings, net profit, bottom line, sales profit, or credit sales) is an entity's income minus cost of goods sold, expenses, depreciation and Amortization (a ...

2018–2019 season

Auguste signed with Galatasaray of the Turkish Basketball Super League (BSL) and the EuroCup on August 7, 2018.

2019–2020 season

On July 23, 2019, Auguste renewed his contract with Galatasaray for another season.

2020–2021 season

On July 20, 2020, Auguste officially returned to 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 Panathinaikos for a second stint with the EuroLeague club, signing a two-year (1+1) contract.

2021–2022 season

He played for the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), ...

in the 2021 NBA summer league, scoring 2 points on 1–2 shooting and taking 5 rebounds in 16-minutes at his debut, a 85–83 win against 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 ...

. On August 23, 2021, Auguste signed with

Cedevita Olimpija Košarkarski klub Cedevita Olimpija (), commonly referred to as KK Cedevita Olimpija or simply Olimpija, is a men's professional basketball club based in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The club competes in the ABA League and the Premier A Slovenian Bask ...

of the ABA League First Division and the EuroCup.

2022–2023 season

On July 9, 2022, he has signed with Frutti Extra Bursaspor 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 ...

(BSL).

2023–2024 season

On June 20, 2023, he signed with SeaHorses Mikawa of the B.League.

National team career

Auguste was selected to the senior Greek national basketball team's 16 man preliminary squad for the

EuroBasket 2017 EuroBasket 2017 was the 40th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe and held between 31 August and 17 September 2017. Beginning from 2017, the continental championships take place every four years with a similar ...

Personal life

Auguste was born in

, to Jean Bazile Auguste and Lea Tzimoulis. His father, was a former

semi-professional Semi-professional sports are sports in which athletes are not participating on a full-time basis, but still receive some payment. Semi-professionals are not amateur because they receive regular payment from their team, but generally at a cons ...

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 ...

player, from

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

, whose uncle is Christophe Dardompre, a former

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

of the Haitian Army. His mother is of

heritage. His maternal great-grandfather, Louis, immigrated to the

U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

from Agia Sotira,

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 ...

in 1949. Auguste has dual citizenship with the United States and Greece. He has stated that he speaks

and

Haitian Creole Haitian Creole (; , ; , ), or simply Creole (), is a French-based creole languages, French-based creole language spoken by 10 to 12million people worldwide, and is one of the two official languages of Haiti (the other being French), where it ...

fluently, in addition to his native English. He has a son born in August 2020.

References

External links

FIBA Champions League profile

Eurobasket.com profile

Greek Basket League profile

Greek Basket League profile

TBLStat.net profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Auguste, Zach 1993 births Living people 21st-century American sportsmen 21st-century Greek sportsmen American expatriate basketball people in Greece American expatriate basketball people in Japan American expatriate basketball people in Slovenia American expatriate basketball people in Turkey American men's basketball players American people of Greek descent American sportspeople of Haitian descent Basketball players from Middlesex County, Massachusetts Bursaspor Basketbol players Centers (basketball) Galatasaray S.K. (men's basketball) players Greek men's basketball players Greek expatriate basketball people in Turkey KK Cedevita Olimpija players New Hampton School alumni Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball players Panathinaikos B.C. players Power forwards SeaHorses Mikawa players Sportspeople from Cambridge, Massachusetts Sportspeople of Greek descent Uşak Sportif players