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Naz Hillmon

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Naz Hillmon
Hillmon with Michigan in 2021
No. 00 – Southside Flyers
PositionPower forward
LeagueWNBL
Personal information
Born (2000-04-05) April 5, 2000 (age 24)
Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
Listed height6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Listed weight190 lb (86 kg)
Career information
High schoolGilmour Academy
(Gates Mills, Ohio)
CollegeMichigan (2018–2022)
WNBA draft2022: 2nd round, 15th overall pick
Selected by the Atlanta Dream
Playing career2022–present
Career history
2022–presentAtlanta Dream
2023–2024Melbourne Boomers
2024–2025Southside Flyers
Career highlights and awards
Stats at Basketball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Medals
Women's basketball
Representing the  United States
FIBA Women's AmeriCup
Gold medal – first place 2021 San Juan
FIBA U19 Women's World Cup
Gold medal – first place 2019 Thailand Team
FIBA Americas U18 Championship
Gold medal – first place 2018 Mexico Team

Nazahrah Ansaria Hillmon (born April 5, 2000) is an American professional basketball player for the Atlanta Dream of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and for the Southside Flyers of the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL). She played college basketball at Michigan, where she is Michigan's all-time leader in rebounds, double-doubles, and free throws made. As a junior she was named a first-team All-American and Big Ten Player of the Year. She also represented the United States at the 2019 FIBA Under-19 Women's Basketball World Cup and won a gold medal.

Early life

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Hillmon played four varsity seasons at Gilmour Academy in Gates Mills, Ohio where she started in all 116 career games and amassed 2,057 points and 1,607 rebounds to become the school's all-time leading scorer and rebounder. Hillmon averaged 21 points, 14 rebounds, 2.7 blocks and 2.0 steals per game as a senior to help lead the Lancers to their first OHSAA Division III state championship, after winning back-to-back district and regional titles. Following an outstanding season, she was named the Division III Northeast Lakes All-District Player of the Year for a second straight season, the All-Ohio Co-Player of the Year and was named a finalist for Ms. Basketball.[1] She became the fourth girls basketball player in state history to score 2,000 points in a high school career.[2] Hillmon verbally committed to play basketball at Michigan on July 4, 2017, following her graduation from Gilmour Academy.[3]

College career

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Freshman season

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During the 2018–19 season, Hillmon appeared in all 34 games for the Wolverines off the bench, averaging a team-high 13.1 points, 7.0 rebounds and .628 field goal percentage per game. She also had a team-high eight double-doubles during the season. She finished sixth nationally in field goal percentage, the only freshman in the top 50. Following an outstanding season, she was named Big Ten Conference Freshman of the Year by the media, Big Ten Conference Sixth Player of the Year by the coaches, the Big Ten All-First Team and the Big Ten Conference All-Freshman team.[4]

Sophomore season

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During the 2019–20 season, Hillmon started all 32 games, scoring in double figures 28 times with 11 double-doubles. She ranked in the top five in Big Ten scoring in points per game (17.4), rebounds per game (8.7) and field-goal percentage (.567). She finished the season with 558 points (9th), 277 rebounds (7th) and shot 56.7 percent (7th) to rank in the top 10 of Michigan all-time season records. Following the season she was named a unanimous All-Big Ten first team selection by both the coaches and media.[5]

Junior season

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During the 2020–21 season, Hillmon was named Big Ten Preseason Co-Player of the Year, and named to watch lists for the Katrina McClain Award, the Wade Trophy and Naismith College Player of the Year.[6][7][8] On January 21, 2021, Hillmon recorded a career-high 50 points and 16 rebounds, setting the all-time single-game scoring record in Michigan program history, man or woman, and recording the first 50-point game in Michigan basketball history. She surpassed the previous women's record of 45 points set by Diane Dietz in 1982, and men's record of 48 points set by Rudy Tomjanovich in 1969. She also set a new program record for field goals made with 20. She became the second player in Michigan women's basketball history to score more than 40 points, and the third woman with a 50-point game in Big Ten basketball history.[9][10]

On March 4, 2021, Hillmon was named a finalist for the Katrina McClain Award for the second straight year. Hillmon ranks fourth nationally in scoring at 25.1 points per game while coming in second in field goal percentage (.648), 17th in rebounding (11.3) and 26th in double-doubles (10). Hillmon has scored at least 18 points in all but one game this season.[11][12] Following an outstanding season, she was named a unanimous All-Big Ten first team selection by both the coaches and media and named the Big Ten Conference Player of the Year. She became the second player in Big Ten history to earn Freshman of the Year, Sixth Player of the Year and Player of the Year honors in a career.[13][14] She was named a first-team All-American by Sports Illustrated and USBWA and a second-team All-American by the Associated Press.[15][16] Hillmon became the first Wolverine to be selected for All-America honors in program history.[17] She was also named University of Michigan Athlete of the Year.[18]

Senior season

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Naz Hillmon, in a 2022 game against Indiana.
Hillmon under the basket in a 2022 game against the Indiana Hoosiers.

During the 2021–22 season, Hillmon was named Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year, and named to watch lists for the Katrina McClain Award, and the Wade Trophy.[19][20] On January 27, 2022, Hillmon recorded 20 points and 12 rebounds to become Michigan's all-time leading rebounder, passing the previous record of 928 set by Trish Andrew in 1993.[21] Following her outstanding performance, she was named USBWA National Player of the Week.[22] On February 27, Hillmon recorded 18 points and 15 rebounds to become the first player in Michigan program history, man or woman, to score 2,000 points and record 1,000 rebounds.[23] During the 2022 NCAA tournament, she helped Michigan advance to the Elite Eight for the first time in program history, as she recorded a double-double in all four games of the tournament.[24]

Following an outstanding season, she was named a unanimous All-Big Ten first team selection by both the coaches and media, and named to the all-defensive team.[25] On March 10, 2022, Hillmon was named a finalist for the Katrina McClain Award for the third straight year. Hillmon averaged 21.0 points, 9.6 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 33.5 minutes per game, and recorded 17 double-doubles, to move into first place all-time at Michigan.[26] She was named a first-team All-American by the Associated Press, becoming the first player in program history to earn a first-team honor from the AP.[27] She was also named a first-team All-American by WBCA, USBWA, The Athletic, Sports Illustrated and the Wooden Award. She finished her career at Michigan as the program leader in rebounds (1,063), double-doubles (52) and free throws made (487). She ranks second all-time in scoring with 2,183 points, playing 21 fewer games than all-time leading scorer Katelynn Flaherty (2,776).[28]

On March 29, 2022, Hillmon renounced her extra year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic and declared for the 2022 WNBA draft.[29][30]

Professional career

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WNBA

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Atlanta Dream (2022–present)

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On April 11, 2022, Hillmon was drafted in the second round, 15th overall, by the Atlanta Dream in the 2022 WNBA draft.[31] She became Michigan's highest WNBA draft pick ever, and the first Wolverine drafted since Tabitha Pool in 2005.[32] During her rookie season with the Dream, Hillmon averaged 4.4 points and 5.1 rebounds in 34 games. She set Atlanta's franchise rookie rebounding record with 172, and ranked fifth in the league in rookie rebounding.[33]

WNBL

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On October 4, 2023, Hillmon signed a one-year contract with the Melbourne Boomers for the 2023–24 WNBL season.[34] During her first year with the Boomers she averaged 15.1 points and 9.5 rebounds per game, and was named to the All-WNBL second-team.[35][36]

On October 3, 2024, Hillmon signed a contract with the Southside Flyers for the 2024–25 WNBL season.[37]

National team career

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Hillmon represented the United States at the 2018 FIBA Under-18 Women's Americas Championship, where she averaged 10.3 points and 5.7 rebounds per game and shot 67 percent in 18.2 minutes per game, and won a gold medal. Hillmon represented the United States at the 2019 FIBA Under-19 Women's Basketball World Cup where she was team captain. She started all seven games of the 2019 tournament, averaging 7.4 points and a team-high 7.6 rebounds per game and won a gold medal.[38][39] On June 6, 2021, Hillmon was named to team USA for the 2021 FIBA Women's AmeriCup. During the tournament, Hillmon recorded one double-double, and averaged 11.8 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 21.5 minutes per game, to help lead USA to a gold medal.[40][41]

Personal life

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Hillmon's mother NaSheema Hillmon played college basketball at Vanderbilt and professionally for the Nashville Noise of the American Basketball League (ABL). Hillmon is the niece of professional basketball player Jawad Williams.[42]

Career statistics

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Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game  RPG  Rebounds per game
 APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game  BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game
 TO  Turnovers per game  FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 Bold  Career best ° League leader

WNBA

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Regular season

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Stats current through end of 2024 season

WNBA regular season statistics
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2022 Atlanta 34 12 19.8 .480 .000 .821 5.1 1.2 0.6 0.3 1.2 4.4
2023 Atlanta 40 3 13.5 .509 .000 .852 3.4 0.7 0.2 0.1 1.0 4.1
2024 Atlanta 40 19 21.7 .552 .333 .762 4.8 1.3 0.7 0.3 1.0 5.7
Career 3 years, 1 team 114 34 18.3 .517 .167 .808 4.4 1.1 0.5 0.2 1.0 4.8

Playoffs

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WNBA playoff statistics
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2023 Atlanta 2 0 14.0 1.000 — — 2.0 1.0 0.5 0.0 1.0 1.0
2024 Atlanta 2 2 24.0 .538 — 1.000 6.5 0.5 0.5 0.0 2.0 7.5
Career 2 years, 1 team 4 2 19.0 .571 — 1.000 4.3 0.8 0.5 0.0 1.5 4.3

College

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2018–19 Michigan 34 0 23.2 .628 .000 .632 7.0 1.1 1.0 0.2 13.1
2019–20 Michigan 32 32 33.3 .567 .000 .644 8.7 2.4 0.8 0.3 17.4
2020–21 Michigan 22 22 33.6 .623 .000 .757 11.4 1.3 0.6 0.4 24.0
2021–22 Michigan 29 28 33.0 .580 .000 .729 9.6 2.1 1.2 0.5 21.3
Career 117 82 30.4 .596 .000 .696 8.9 1.7 0.9 0.4 18.4

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Cline, Nathaniel (August 7, 2019). "Gilmour's Naz Hillmon commits to Michigan basketball, says 'Go Blue' in announcement". cleveland.com. Retrieved January 23, 2021.
  2. ^ Barnes, Nate (December 27, 2017). "Gilmour girls basketball: Naz Hillmon becomes Lancers' all-time leading scorer". The News-Herald. Retrieved January 21, 2021.
  3. ^ Kampf, John (July 14, 2017). "High school girls basketball: Gilmour's Naz Hillmon striving for greatness before heading to Michigan". The News-Herald. Retrieved January 23, 2021.
  4. ^ "Big Ten Women's Basketball Honors Announced On BTN". BigTen.org. March 4, 2019. Archived from the original on March 6, 2019. Retrieved January 21, 2021.
  5. ^ "2019-20 Big Ten Women's Basketball Honors Announced On BTN". BigTen.org. March 2, 2020. Archived from the original on March 3, 2020. Retrieved January 21, 2021.
  6. ^ "WBCA announces 2020-21 preseason 'Wade Watch' list". WBCA.com. November 17, 2020. Retrieved January 21, 2021.
  7. ^ "Naismith women's college basketball Player of the Year Top 50 watchlist released for 2020-21 season". NCAA.com. November 17, 2020. Retrieved January 21, 2021.
  8. ^ "Awards and Honors: Katrina McClain Award Watch List". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. November 12, 2020. Retrieved January 21, 2021.
  9. ^ Ford, Ryan (January 21, 2021). "Naz Hillmon shatters Michigan basketball scoring record but U-M suffers first loss of year". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved January 21, 2021.
  10. ^ "Hillmon Breaks Michigan Scoring Record in Tough Road Loss at OSU". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. January 21, 2021. Retrieved January 21, 2021.
  11. ^ "Awards and Honors: Hillmon Among Finalists for McClain Award". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. March 4, 2021. Retrieved March 4, 2021.
  12. ^ LaFleur, Elizabeth (March 4, 2021). "Here are the five finalists for the 2021 Katrina McClain Award". NCAA.com. Retrieved March 4, 2021.
  13. ^ "2020-21 Big Ten Women's Basketball Honors Announced". BigTen.org. March 8, 2021. Archived from the original on March 9, 2021. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
  14. ^ "Player of the Year Hillmon Headlines Michigan's Big Ten Honorees". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. March 8, 2021. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
  15. ^ "SI's College Basketball Women's 2020–21 All-America Teams". SI.com. March 8, 2021. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
  16. ^ Feinberg, Doug (March 17, 2021). "UConn frosh Paige Bueckers leads women's AP All-America team". APNews.com. Associated Press. Retrieved March 17, 2021.
  17. ^ "Program First: Hillmon Selected for Associated Press All-America Team". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. March 17, 2021. Retrieved March 17, 2021.
  18. ^ VanMetre, Sarah; Terwillegar, Kyle (June 23, 2021). "Hillmon, Owens Named Michigan Athletes of the Year". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. Retrieved June 23, 2021.
  19. ^ VanMetre, Sarah (October 26, 2021). "Hillmon Named B1G Preseason POY, Brown Honored; U-M Picked Fourth". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 26, 2021.
  20. ^ "2021 Wade Trophy winner NaLyssa Smith headlines 2021-22 preseason 'Wade Watch' list". WBCA.com. November 9, 2021. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
  21. ^ VanMetre, Sarah (January 27, 2022). "Wolverines Sweep Ohio State with Dominant Road Win". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. Retrieved January 27, 2022.
  22. ^ "Hillmon, Morrow Are USBWA Women's National, Freshman Players of the Week". sportswriters.net. February 1, 2022. Retrieved February 1, 2022.
  23. ^ VanMetre, Sarah (February 27, 2022). "Wolverines Start Fast Before Falling at No. 21 Iowa". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
  24. ^ VanMetre, Sarah (March 28, 2022). "Michigan's Historic NCAA Run Ends in Elite Eight After Tight Battle with Louisville". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. Retrieved March 28, 2022.
  25. ^ "2021-22 Big Ten Women's Basketball Honors Announced". BigTen.org. March 1, 2022. Archived from the original on March 1, 2022. Retrieved March 1, 2022.
  26. ^ VanMetre, Sarah (March 10, 2022). "Awards and Honors: Hillmon Named Finalist for McClain Award". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. Retrieved March 10, 2022.
  27. ^ VanMetre, Sarah (March 16, 2022). "Hillmon Becomes First AP All-America First Teamer". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. Retrieved March 16, 2022.
  28. ^ VanMetre, Sarah (March 31, 2022). "Hillmon Named to WBCA All-America Team for Second Time". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
  29. ^ Chengelis, Angelique S. (March 30, 2022). "Michigan star Naz Hillmon, a projected first-round pick, to enter WNBA Draft". The Detroit News. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
  30. ^ "WNBA Announces Initial List of Players Renouncing NCAA Eligibility to Opt-In for Consideration for 2022 WNBA Draft". WNBA.com. March 29, 2022. Retrieved March 29, 2022.
  31. ^ Garcia, Tony (April 11, 2022). "WNBA draft: Michigan women's basketball star Naz Hillmon goes to Atlanta Dream in Round 2T". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved April 11, 2022.
  32. ^ Kahn, Andrew (April 11, 2022). "Naz Hillmon becomes Michigan's highest WNBA draft pick ever". MLive.com. Retrieved April 11, 2022.
  33. ^ Kahn, Andrew (August 17, 2022). "Recapping Naz Hillmon's record-setting rookie year with Atlanta Dream". MLive.com. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
  34. ^ Rosenberg, Lauren (October 4, 2023). "Atlanta Dream forward Naz Hillmon signs with the Melbourne Boomers". edgeofthecrowd.com. Retrieved October 4, 2023.
  35. ^ "Jordin Canada Named WNBL MVP Winner". wnbl.basketball.com. February 26, 2024. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  36. ^ Dalzell, Noa (February 27, 2024). "WNBL: It's Fire vs. Lynx, Flyers vs. Boomers in best-of-three semi-final series". swishappeal.com. Retrieved February 27, 2024.
  37. ^ iancoutts (October 3, 2024). "Naz Hillmon from the WNBA to the Flyers - Southside Flyers". Southside Flyers. Retrieved October 28, 2024.
  38. ^ "Nazahrah Hillmon-Baker". usab.com. July 30, 2019. Archived from the original on August 5, 2020. Retrieved January 21, 2021.
  39. ^ Ringo, Kyle (July 20, 2018). "Nazahrah Hillmon-Baker Makes a Name for Herself in a Family of Athletes". usab.com. Archived from the original on September 21, 2020. Retrieved January 21, 2021.
  40. ^ VanMetre, Sarah (June 6, 2021). "Hillmon Named to USA Basketball AmeriCup Team". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
  41. ^ VanMetre, Sarah (June 20, 2021). "Hillmon Wins Third Gold Medal with USA Basketball". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. Retrieved June 20, 2021.
  42. ^ Kornacki, Steve (March 9, 2020). "Naz Hillmon: Third-Generation Hoops Star Rebounds Her Way to Success". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. Retrieved January 21, 2021.
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