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Akwasi Yeboah

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Akwasi Yeboah
Yeboah in February 2020
No. 15 – Trapani Shark
PositionSmall forward / Power forward
LeagueLega Basket Serie A
Personal information
Born (1997-06-15) June 15, 1997 (age 27)
Sekondi-Takoradi, Ghana
NationalityBritish
Listed height6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Listed weight230 lb (104 kg)
Career information
High schoolBarking Abbey School
(London, England)
College
NBA draft2020: undrafted
Playing career2014–present
Career history
2014–2015Kent Crusaders
2020–2021Saint-Quentin
2021–2022Saint-Chamond Basket
2022–2023Darüşşafaka
2023–2024Galatasaray
2024–presentTrapani Shark
Career highlights and awards
  • First-team All-America East (2019)
  • Second-team All-America East (2018)

Akwasi Abeyie Yeboah (born June 15, 1997) is a British professional basketball player for Trapani Shark of the Lega Basket Serie A. Yeboah competed for the Kent Crusaders of the English National Basketball League (NBL) and led the team to a championship in 2015. Yeboah played three seasons of college basketball for the Stony Brook Seawolves before transferring to play for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights as a graduate student for his final season of eligibility.

Early life and career

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Yeboah was born in Sekondi-Takoradi, Ghana but moved to the London suburb of Chigwell, England at the age of nine after his mother Winifred found a nursing job to better provide for him and older brother Kwame. Yeboah started out as a soccer player and did not begin playing basketball until the age of 13. He was, by his admission, terrible at basketball at first. His physical education teacher told him that he was not competitive, which motivated him to improve.[1]

He competed for the Kent Crusaders of the English National Basketball League (NBL) after the Barking Abbey School, which he attended, partnered with the Crusaders to give their top players the ability to play in the NBL. He had a season-high 21 points twice, against the Bradford Dragons and Essex Leopards, and scored 19 points in a 12-point comeback win against the Reading Rockets.[2] Yeboah was a key piece of the team that won the 2015 NBL Division I Playoff Championship. He averaged 12.7 points and 5.4 rebounds per game.[3] In the league final, Yeboah scored 21 points and had seven rebounds. He received his only NCAA Division I offer from Stony Brook's head coach Steve Pikiell.[4]

College career

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Stony Brook (2016–2019)

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Yeboah playing for Stony Brook in 2016

Yeboah redshirted his first season at Stony Brook, which was Pikiell's last at the school before accepting the job at Rutgers. Stony Brook made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history as Yeboah sat out the season due to lack of projected playing time.[5] As a redshirt freshman, Yeboah averaged 9.5 points and 5.1 rebounds per game and was named to the America East All-Freshman Team.[6] He scored 21 points and had 16 rebounds in the first round of the America East Tournament in a 70–60 win against Binghamton.[7]

In his sophomore season, Yeboah averaged 15.3 points and 5.1 rebounds per game.[8] He had nine 20-point games as a sophomore and was named to the Second Team All-America East.[9] He scored a career-high 30 points to go with eight rebounds against Columbia on December 7, 2017.[10]

Yeboah averaged 20.4 points through the first 12 games of his junior season.[11] On December 22, 2018 against Quinnipiac, Yeboah suffered a hyperextended knee but returned to the lineup after missing a game.[8] Yeboah averaged 16.7 points and 7.7 rebounds per game as a junior for the Seawolves while shooting 41.3 percent from the floor and 31.6 percent from three-point range.[12] He was named to the First Team All-America East.[13]

In three seasons at Stony Brook, Yeboah scored 1,317 points, the sixth-most in program history.[14]

Rutgers (2019–2020)

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Yeboah entered the transfer portal in March 2019 as an impending graduate student, but retained his eligibility at Stony Brook for the 2019–20 season.[15] He was listed as the 36th-best graduate transfer according to Stadium's Jeff Goodman.[16]

On May 2, 2019, Yeboah announced that he would transfer to Rutgers, reuniting with his former head coach Steve Pikiell and choosing the Scarlet Knights over SMU and TCU. He was eligible immediately as a graduate transfer.[14][16] Pikiell called Yeboah "a huge addition to our program,” and he was a key piece in helping Rutgers have one of the best homecourt records and its first winning season since 2006.[17] Yeboah scored 20 points, including a three-pointer to tie the game at 72 with two minutes to play, in a 75–72 win against Nebraska on January 26, 2020 and surpassed the 1,500-point milestone.[18] In his senior season, Yeboah averaged 9.8 points and 4.8 rebounds per game and earned the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award.[19]

Professional career

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On August 12, 2020, Yeboah signed his first professional contract with Saint-Quentin of the French LNB Pro B.[20] He averaged 12.0 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1.0 steal per game. On August 3, 2021, Yeboah signed with Saint-Chamond Basket.[21]

On June 19, 2022, he has signed with Darüşşafaka of the Turkish Basketbol Süper Ligi (BSL).[22]

On July 7, 2023 he signed with Galatasaray Ekmas of the Basketball Super League (BSL).[23]

On July 23, 2024, he signed with Trapani Shark of the Lega Basket Serie A.[24]

National team career

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Yeboah competed for Great Britain on its U16, U18 and U20 teams. In the 2017 FIBA U20 European Championship Division B, he averaged 14.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 0.9 assists per game.[25] Yeboah scored 22 points and collected 6 rebounds in the third-place game, a 81–65 win against Russia, and was named to the All-Star Five.[26]

Career statistics

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

College

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2015–16 Stony Brook Redshirt Redshirt
2016–17 Stony Brook 31 10 21.2 .372 .341 .797 5.1 .6 .5 .5 9.5
2017–18 Stony Brook 32 31 28.5 .452 .355 .803 5.1 1.4 .9 .2 15.3
2018–19 Stony Brook 32 31 31.8 .413 .316 .785 7.7 1.4 .9 .5 16.7
2019–20 Rutgers 31 22 23.8 .435 .352 .781 4.8 .9 .8 .5 9.8
Career 126 94 26.4 .419 .338 .792 5.7 1.1 .7 .4 12.9

References

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  1. ^ Herrmann, Mark (22 January 2019). "The rise of Akwasi Yeboah at Stony Brook". Newsday. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
  2. ^ Gains, Bradley (17 April 2015). "Akwasi Yeboah Aiming to Lead Young Crusaders to Final Fours Glory". Hoopsfix.com. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
  3. ^ Peck, Adam (30 April 2015). "Seawolves Add Ghanaian-Born Wingman To Roster". BrookLand. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
  4. ^ Carino, Jerry (2 May 2019). "Rutgers basketball: Akwasi Yeboah, Stony Brook grad transfer, reunites with Pikiell". Asbury Park Press. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
  5. ^ Breitman, Aaron (31 October 2019). "Akwasi Yeboah making seamless transition with Rutgers basketball". On the Banks. SB Nation. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
  6. ^ Johnson, Lamar (10 November 2017). "Maryland men's basketball vs. Stony Brook preview: Terps open 2017-18 on the road". Testudo Times. SB Nation. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
  7. ^ "Stony Brook beats Binghamton 70-60 in America East quarters". ESPN. Associated Press. 1 March 2017. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  8. ^ a b Tam, Ethan (13 February 2019). "Yeboah's historic drive guides Men's Basketball to victory". Stony Brook Statesman. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
  9. ^ "Olaniyi Named America East Rookie of the Year, Yeboah All-Second Team". Stony Brook University. 2 March 2018. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
  10. ^ "Yeboah has career-high, Stony Brook rallies to beat Columbia". USA Today. Associated Press. 7 December 2017. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  11. ^ "Akwasi Yeboah - Men's Basketball". Stony Brook University Athletics. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  12. ^ Nalwasky, Chris (6 October 2019). "RU grad transfer Akwasi Yeboah having no problems with deeper 3-point line". Rivals.com. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  13. ^ "Lamb Unanimously Chosen Player of Year to Highlight 18-19 Men's #AEHoops Awards". americaeast.com. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  14. ^ a b Kratch, James (14 May 2019). "Rutgers' Steve Pikiell breaks down grad transfer Akwasi Yeboah's game". NJ.com. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
  15. ^ Herrman, March (22 March 2019). "Akwasi Yeboah mulls transfer from Stony Brook". Newsday. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  16. ^ a b Breitman, Aaron (2 May 2019). "Stony Brook Grad Transfer Akwasi Yeboah Commits To Rutgers Basketball". On the Banks. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  17. ^ Deren, Bobby (31 January 2020). "Addition of Akwasi Yeboah has been key in Rutgers' rise". 247 Sports. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
  18. ^ Fonseca, Brian (26 January 2020). "How 'old man' Akwasi Yeboah quietly led Rutgers to tight win while reaching career milestone vs. Nebraska". NJ.com. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
  19. ^ Deren, Bobby (11 March 2020). "Addition of Akwasi Yeboah has been big for Rutgers". 247 Sports. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
  20. ^ Bessiere, Kévin (12 August 2020). "Akwasi Yeboah complète le puzzle du SQBB". Courrier picard (in French). Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  21. ^ "St-Chamond signs Akwasi Yeboah". Eurobasket. 3 August 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  22. ^ "Daçka'ya hoşgeldin Akwasi Yeboah". darussafakabasketbol.com (in Turkish). 19 June 2022. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
  23. ^ "Akwasi Yeboah Galatasaray Nef'te!" (in Turkish). Galatasaray S.K. 7 July 2023. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  24. ^ "Trapani Shark firma Akwasi Yeboah". trapanishark.it (in Italian). 23 July 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
  25. ^ "Akwasi Abeyie Yeboah". FIBA. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
  26. ^ "Romania nose out Croatia for historic Division B triumph, Great Britain earn promotion". FIBA. 23 July 2017. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
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