Melvin Ejim

Melvin Ejim

Ejim playing for Iowa State in January 2011
No. 3 – Reyer Venezia Mestre
Position Small forward
League Lega Basket Serie A
Personal information
Born (1991-03-04) March 4, 1991
Toronto, Ontario
Nationality Canadian / Nigerian
Listed height 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Listed weight 220 lb (100 kg)
Career information
High school St. Mary's Ryken
(Leonardtown, Maryland)
Brewster Academy
(Wolfeboro, New Hampshire)
College Iowa State (2010–2014)
NBA draft 2014 / Undrafted
Playing career 2014–present
Career history
2014–2015 Virtus Roma
2015–2016 Erie BayHawks
2016–present Reyer Venezia Mestre
Career highlights and awards
Medals
Men’s Basketball
Representing  Canada
FIBA Americas Championship
2015 Mexico City National team
Pan American Games
2015 Toronto National team

Melvin Ejim (pronounced EDGE-um; born March 4, 1991) is a Nigerian-Canadian[1] professional basketball player for Reyer Venezia Mestre of the Lega Basket Serie A. He played college basketball for Iowa State University before going undrafted in the 2014 NBA draft.

High school career

Ejim attended St. Mary's Ryken High School in Leonardtown, Maryland where he made the 2007 Provincial team before transferring to Brewster Academy in New Hampshire. In 2008–09, he averaged 12.3 points and 4.6 rebounds per game for Brewster. In his final year in 2009–10, he averaged 13.1 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.0 steals and 2.5 assists per game, leading Brewster to a 34-4 record and a National Prep School championship.[2]

College career

Ejim started 30 games out of 32 in his freshman campaign for Iowa State, averaging 10.3 points and 6.7 rebounds per game, shooting 48.6 percent from the field (121-249 FG) and tallied 39 steals, second-best total on the team. He became one of just 13 Iowa State freshmen in school history to average double figures in scoring, and his 214 rebounds was the third-best rookie total in school history.[2]

Oklahoma's Cameron Clark attempts to block a shot by Melvin Ejim on January 29, 2011.

One of Iowa State’s top post players, Ejim started 29 games out of 34 in 2011–12, averaging 9.3 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. He earned Big 12 Honorable Mention accolades and was a first team Academic All-Big 12 selection.[2]

One of the best forwards in the Big 12 in 2012–13, Ejim earned All-Big 12 third team honors and was a NABC All-District 8 second team selection; he was also honored as the inaugural Big 12 Scholar Athlete of the Year Award winner and was a Capital One Academic All-District 6 selection. He became the first Cyclone to lead the Big 12 in rebounding (9.3 rpg) since Jackson Vroman (2004) and was just the third player in Big 12 history to lead the league in rebounding at 6'6" or shorter (Terry Black, Baylor; P. J. Tucker, Texas).[2]

As a senior in 2013–14, Ejim had one of the best seasons in school history, earning Big 12 Player of the Year honors (coaches & AP) and All-America honors from five organizations. He was a finalist for the Oscar Robertson Trophy, became the fifth Academic All-American in school history, earned Capital One first team Academic All-America honors and was named the Big 12 Scholar Athlete of the Year for the second time. He became just the fourth player in league history to record 1,500 points and 1,000 rebounds in a career, finishing his career with the most wins of any Cyclone men's basketball player at 88 wins. He also finished 12th in scoring (1,643), second in rebounding (1,051), tied for 10th in steals (146) and 15th in blocks (59); he also broke the school record for games played (135) and games started (126).[2][3]

On February 8, 2014, Ejim scored a Big 12-record 48 points against the TCU Horned Frogs in the Hilton Coliseum, surpassing Michael Beasley and Denis Clemente who had 44 points in 2008 and 2009 respectively.[4]

College statistics

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2010–11 Iowa State 32 30 27.8 .486 .232 .695 6.7 1.2 1.2 .2 10.3
2011–12 Iowa State 34 29 23.7 .489 .220 .762 6.6 1.0 1.0 .3 9.3
2012–13 Iowa State 35 34 27.6 .504 .348 .697 9.3 1.5 1.0 .5 11.3
2013–14 Iowa State 34 33 32.1 .505 .346 .761 8.4 1.8 1.2 .7 17.8

Professional career

2014–15 season

After going undrafted in the 2014 NBA draft, Ejim joined the Philadelphia 76ers for the 2014 Orlando Summer League.[5] However, after not receiving any playing time in the 76ers' 83–77 loss to the Orlando Magic on July 5, he left the team[6] and joined the San Antonio Spurs for the Las Vegas Summer League.[7]

On July 24, 2014, Ejim signed with Virtus Roma of Italy for the 2014–15 season.[8][9] In 29 league games for Virtus, he averaged 7.7 points and 6.3 rebounds per game.[10] He also averaged 8.1 points and 4.3 rebounds in 18 Eurocup games.[11]

2015–16 season

On June 23, 2015, Ejim signed with Medi Bayreuth of Germany for the 2015–16 season.[12] However, after an impressive stint playing for the Orlando Magic white team during the 2015 NBA Summer League,[13] Ejim parted ways with the German club on August 4[14] in order to sign a training camp deal with the Magic later that day.[15] On October 21, he was waived by the Magic prior to the start of the regular season after appearing in four preseason games, averaging 3.5 points and 2.3 rebounds in 8.0 minutes per game.[16] Ten days later, he was acquired by the Erie BayHawks of the NBA Development League as an affiliate player of the Magic.[17] On November 14, he made his debut for the BayHawks in a 83–79 loss to the Westchester Knicks, recording 21 points, 14 rebounds and one assist in 36 minutes.[18] On March 16, 2016, he was waived by Erie.[19] He appeared in 39 games for Erie, averaging 14.6 points, 7.7 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.6 steals per game.

On March 22, 2016, Ejim signed with Reyer Venezia Mestre of Italy for the rest of the 2015–16 Lega Basket Serie A season.[20]

2016–17 season

On June 17, 2016, Ejim re-signed with Reyer Venezia Mestre for the 2016–17 season.[21]

International career

In June 2012, Ejim played for the Nigerian national team on their tour of China.[22] In July 2013, he played for the Canadian national team at the 2013 World University Games where he averaged eight points and four rebounds per game.[2] In July 2015, he was named on the Canadian national team roster for the 2015 Pan American Games.[23]

Personal

Ejim is the son of Nigerian native, Elizabeth Omoghan. He is a member of the Phi Kappa Phi academic honors society.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Halsted, Alex (June 7, 2012). "Home court advantage: Ejim seeks Olympic opportunity in Nigeria". IowaStateDaily.com. Retrieved August 10, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "#3 Melvin Ejim". Cyclones.com. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Capital One Academic All-America® Division I Basketball Teams Announced". cosida.com. February 20, 2014. Retrieved February 20, 2014.
  4. ↑ "Melvin Ejim scores Big 12-record 48 as Iowa State trounces TCU". ESPN.com. February 8, 2014. Retrieved February 8, 2014.
  5. ↑ "Sixers Announce Orlando Pro Summer League Camp Invitees". NBA.com. July 1, 2014. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
  6. ↑ Pompey, Keith (July 8, 2014). "St. Joe's Roberts has a blast filling in for Noel". Philly.com. Retrieved July 8, 2014.
  7. ↑ "Spurs Announce Summer League Roster". NBA.com. July 8, 2014. Retrieved July 8, 2014.
  8. ↑ "Virtus Rome lands Ejim". Eurocupbasketball.com. July 24, 2014. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
  9. ↑ "La Virtus ingaggia Melvin Ejim". VirtusRoma.it (in Italian). July 24, 2014. Retrieved July 30, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Melvin Ejim Europe Stats". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 4, 2015.
  11. ↑ "EJIM, MELVIN". Eurocupbasketball.com. Retrieved August 4, 2015.
  12. ↑ "Melvin Ejim moves to Medi Bayreuth". Sportando.com. June 23, 2015. Retrieved June 23, 2015.
  13. ↑ "Orlando Magic Announce Rosters for Southwest Airlines Orlando Pro Summer League". NBA.com. June 30, 2015. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  14. ↑ Spaeth, Eberhard (August 4, 2015). "Bestätigung: Medi-Neuzugang Melvin Ejim wechselt in die NBA". Nordbayerischer-Kurier.de (in German). Retrieved August 4, 2015.
  15. ↑ "Magic Sign Melvin Ejim". NBA.com. August 4, 2015. Retrieved August 4, 2015.
  16. ↑ "Magic Waive Melvin Ejim". NBA.com. October 21, 2015. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
  17. ↑ "Erie BayHawks Announce Affiliate, Returning Players". OurSportsCentral.com. October 31, 2015. Retrieved October 31, 2015.
  18. ↑ "Summers Scores 30 as Knicks Claw Back to Top BayHawks". NBA.com. November 14, 2015. Retrieved March 18, 2016.
  19. ↑ "2015-2016 Erie BayHawks Transactions History". RealGM.com. Retrieved March 18, 2016.
  20. ↑ "Reyer Venezia signs Melvin Ejim". Sportando.com. March 22, 2016. Retrieved March 22, 2016.
  21. ↑ "Reyer Venezia officially re-signs Melvin Ejim". Sportando.com. 17 June 2016. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  22. ↑ "Melvin Ejim Nigerian National Team Update". Cyclones.com. June 19, 2012. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
  23. ↑ "CANADIAN MEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM ANNOUNCED FOR TORONTO 2015 PAN AM GAMES". Basketball.ca. July 18, 2015. Retrieved July 19, 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/19/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.