Ike Nwankwo

Ike Nwankwo

Personal information
Born	(1973-12-27) December 27, 1973 Houston, Texas, U.S.
Nationality	American / Nigerian
Listed height	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)
Listed weight	257.4 lb (117 kg)
Career information
High school	Cypress Creek (Houston, Texas)
College	UCLA (1993–1995) Long Beach State (1996–1997)
NBA draft	1997: undrafted
Playing career	1998–2010
Position	Power forward / center
Career history
1998	Cocodrilos de Caracas
1998	Piratas de Quebradillas
1998–1999	Tuborg Pilsener
1999	Prokom Trefl Sopot
1999	Piratas de Quebradillas
1999	Tuborg Pilsener
2000	Prokom Trefl Sopot
2000	Mets de Guaynabo
2000	Vaqueros de Bayamón
2000–2001	Sioux Falls Skyforce
2001	Marinos de Oriente
2001–2002	Dynamo Moscow
2002	Cocodrilos de Caracas
2003	Huntsville Flight
2003	Darüşşafaka
2004	Huntsville Flight
2004–2005	CAB Madeira
2005–2006	Ovarense Basquetebol
2006–2007	Queluz
2007	Club Ourense Baloncesto
2007–2008	Belenenses
2008–2009	Club Malvín
2009	Rotterdam Challengers
2009–2010	Thailand Tigers
Career highlights and awards
NCAA champion (1995)

Ikenna Nwankwo (born December 27, 1973) is a Nigerian-American former professional basketball player. From Houston, Texas, he played college basketball with the UCLA Bruins, winning a national championship in 1995.

College career

Nwankwo played with the UCLA Bruins, and won a national championship on their 1994–95 team. In his second year as a reserve behind center George Zidek, he played in a career-high 23 games, averaging 2.7 points and 1.6 rebounds. After Zidek graduated, Nwankwo anticipated a larger role in 1995–96; however, freshman Jelani McCoy became the starting center instead. Seeking more playing time, Nwankwo transferred to Long Beach State in January 1996.

Professional career

Nwankwo began his professional career in Venezuela with the Cocodrilos de Caracas. After a very successful stint where he was the league MVP he then moved to Puerto Rico where he was an MVP candidate in Puerto Rico, with Quebradillas Pirates of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN) from 1998 to 1999. In 1998 Nwankwo also played his first season in Turkey where he would play for the next two seasons. He played with Tuborg where he led the league in rebounds at 10. 1 per game. He returned to Tuborg the following year until a knee injury cut his season short. He then signed in Poland with Prokom Trefl Sopot. Nwankwo signed with the Miami Heat of the NBA in 2000, the following year he signed with the Houston Rockets. From 2001 to 2003, Nwankwo played for several European clubs including MBC Dynamo Moscow of the Russian Superleague. In 2003 Nwankwo joined the Huntsville Flight (now Albuquerque Thunderbirds) of the National Basketball Development League. 2004 saw Nwankwo return to Turkey, where he played with Darüşşafaka S.K. of the Turkish Basketball League (TBL). Since 2005, Nwankwo has played in the Portuguese Basketball League (LCB) (2005 with CAB Madeira and since 2006 with CA Queluz.

NBA teams

Nwankwo signed to play with an NBA squad every year from 2000 to 2004 except 2003, with the Miami Heat (2000), Houston Rockets (2001), Cleveland Cavaliers (2002) and the Los Angeles Lakers (2004) seasons.

International career

Although born in the United States, Nwankwo has represented the land of his ancestry, Nigeria, in international competition. He played for Nigeria at the FIBA Africa Championship 2003 and 2006 FIBA World Championship.

Coaching career

After his playing career ended, Nwankwo started a basketball academy for kids in Bangkok in 2010, which he later launched in Hong Kong as well.

Personal

His name "Ikenna" means "The Father's Strength" in Igbo

External links

• TBLStat.net Profile