Ekpe Udoh: Basketball Player

Ekpedeme Friday “Ekpe” Udoh ( born May 20, 1987) is a Nigerian-American professional basketball player for the Beijing Ducks of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). He played high school basketball for Edmond Santa Fe High School and college basketball for the University of Michigan and Baylor University. In the 2010 NBA draft, he was selected by the Golden State Warriors with the sixth overall pick.

With a 7’4 ¹⁄₂” wingspan, Udoh was the Big 12 Conference’s leading shot-blocker during the 2009–10 season. He led the conference in his only season at Baylor, after transferring from Michigan where, as a sophomore, he led the Big Ten Conference in blocked shots with 2.9 per game (92 blocks total) in 2007–08. A two−time All-EuroLeague Team selection, Udoh led Fenerbahçe to a EuroLeague title in 2017, earning the EuroLeague Final Four MVP award in the process.

College career

Udoh played three seasons of college basketball, two at Michigan and one at Baylor, averaging 8.4 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 2.8 blocks per game in 103 career games. In 2009–10, Udoh earned honourable mention All-American honours by the Associated Press, as well as being named to the All-Big 12-second team, Big 12 All-Defensive team, Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, Big 12 All-Rookie team, USBWA All-District VII Team and NABC Division I All-District 8-second team.

On April 13, 2010, he declared for the NBA draft, forgoing his final year of college eligibility.

Professional career

Udoh was selected with the sixth overall pick in the 2010 NBA draft by the Golden State Warriors. Because of a wrist injury, Udoh did not make his NBA debut until December 11, 2010, against the Miami Heat in the final three minutes of the game, scoring two points.

On November 21, 2011, Udoh signed with Bnei Herzliya of Israel for the duration of the NBA lockout. In December 2011, he returned to the Warriors after managing just one game for Bnei where he recorded 22 points, 16 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 blocks.

On March 13, 2012, Udoh, along with Monta Ellis and Kwame Brown, was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for Andrew Bogut and Stephen Jackson.

On September 3, 2014, Udoh signed with the Los Angeles Clippers. Throughout the season, he appeared in 33 games, failing to secure larger playing time and role.

On July 28, 2015, Udoh signed a one-year deal with the Turkish club Fenerbahçe. In his first season with the team, Udoh already had a starting role, being one of the team’s leaders. Fenerbahçe won the Turkish Cup, with 67–65 win over Darüşşafaka. Fenerbahçe also reached the final game of the 2016 EuroLeague Final Four but fell short of winning the EuroLeague championship, after an overtime 96–101 loss to CSKA Moscow. Over 27 EuroLeague games, he averaged 12.6 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. At the end of the season, Fenerbahçe also won the Turkish League championship.

On July 11, 2016, Udoh re-signed with Fenerbahçe, on a 1+1 contract. In the 2016–17 season, Udoh won the EuroLeague championship with Fenerbahçe. He was named the EuroLeague Final Four MVP, after his performance in the Final Four. On July 14, 2017, he parted ways with Fenerbahçe in order to return to the NBA.

On July 21, 2017, Udoh signed with the Utah Jazz.

Career statistics

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	PIR	Performance Index Rating
Bold	Career-high

Note: The EuroLeague is not the only competition in which the player participated for the team during the season. He also played in domestic competition, and regional competition if applicable.

†	Denotes season in which Udoh’s team won the EuroLeague
	Led the league

NBA

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2010–11	Golden State	58	18	17.8	.437	—	.656	3.1	.7	.4	1.5	4.1
2011–12	Golden State	38	6	21.8	.443	—	.719	3.9	.8	.7	1.7	5.5
2011–12	Milwaukee	23	5	20.1	.409	.000	.800	4.7	1.1	.7	1.6	5.7
2012–13	Milwaukee	76	9	17.3	.435	.000	.748	3.3	.6	.5	1.1	4.3
2013–14	Milwaukee	42	14	19.1	.399	—	.638	3.5	.7	.4	1.0	3.4
2014–15	L.A. Clippers	33	0	3.9	.458	—	.778	.8	.2	.2	.2	.9
2017–18	Utah	63	3	12.9	.500	.000	.750	2.4	.8	.7	1.2	2.6
2018–19	Utah	51	1	6.3	.694	—	.633	1.8	.5	.2	.6	2.3
Career		384	56	14.8	.453	.000	.718	2.9	.7	.5	1.1	3.5

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2013	Milwaukee	4	13.5	.444	–	–	1.5	.3	.5	.5	2.0
2015	L.A. Clippers	4	3.0	.333	–	–	.8	.0	.0	.0	.5
2018	Utah	6	3.5	1.000	–	.000	.5	.0	.0	.3	.3
2019	Utah	2	3.1	.000	–	–	.0	.0	.0	.0	.0
Career		16	5.8	.429	–	.000	.8	.1	.1	.3	.8

EuroLeague

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG	PIR
2015–16	Fenerbahçe	27	24	27.8	.555	.000	.768	5.1	1.3	.7	2.3	12.6	16.0
2016–17†	Fenerbahçe	31	22	32.0	.584	.000	.644	7.8	2.2	1.0	2.2	12.1	20.7
Career		58	46	30.0	.570	.000	.700	6.5	1.8	.9	2.2	12.3	18.5

Individual awards

EuroLeague Final Four MVP

EuroLeague 2016–17

EuroLeague MVP of the Month

EuroLeague 2015–16, April^[20]

EuroLeague Weekly MVPs

EuroLeague 2015–16 – Playoffs, Game 2, with 25 PIR
EuroLeague 2015–16 – Playoffs, Game 3, with 33 PIR
EuroLeague 2016–17 – Regular Season, Round 4, with 31 PIR

Personal life

Udoh is the son of Nigerian parents, Alice and Sam Udoh, and he has one older brother, Eddie, and two younger sisters, Esther and Sefon