Mfon Sunday Udoka (born June 16, 1976) is a Nigerian-American former professional basketball player who is an assistant coach for the Nigeria women's national basketball team, the D'Tigress. Born in Portland, Oregon, Udoka graduated from Benson Polytechnic High School (1994) in Portland before attending DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois from 1994 to 1998. She is the older sister of coach and former NBA player Ime Udoka.[1]
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 16, 1976 Portland, Oregon, U.S. |
| Nationality | American / Nigerian |
| Listed height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) |
| Listed weight | 187 lb (85 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Benson (Portland, Oregon) |
| College | DePaul (1994–1998) |
| WNBA draft | 1998: undrafted |
| Position | Forward |
| Career history | |
| 1998 | Detroit Shock |
| 2003 | Houston Comets |
| 2004 | Los Angeles Sparks |
| Stats at Basketball Reference | |
Medals | |
1998-2003
editAfter leaving DePaul in 1998, Udoka signed with the Detroit Shock of the WNBA. With Detroit, she appeared in three games. Udoka left the U.S. following the 1998 season, moving to Portugal for the 1998–99 season. She returned to school to complete her degree in Communications in 2000, and also rehabilitated her ACL injury she suffered in the summer of 1999. In 2001, she slowly resumed her basketball career with the Birmingham Power of the National Women's Basketball League. Following the end of the 2001 NWBL season, Udoka again left the U.S., moving to Israel, where she played briefly with Electra Ramat HaSharon before moving to compete with Harbin in China for the 2002 season. For the 2003 season, Udoka went back to Harbin before playing with the Chicago Blaze, again of the NWBL. In 2003, she was invited to the Houston Comets training camp and made the roster as a free agent.
2003-2004
editTaking several years away from the WNBA, Udoka returned in 2003 with the Houston Comets. With the Comets, she played in 25 games and started 3 of them, averaging 3.2 points per game in 10 minutes. Udoka signed with the Los Angeles Sparks for the short remainder of the 2004 WNBA season, after competing for Nigeria in the Athens Olympics, but played in only 3 games.[2]
2004-2007
editAfter leaving Los Angeles, Udoka moved to Spain (2004), then the Athens Summer Olympics and Russia (2005). She played in Mersin, Turkey for the second half of the 2006 season and spent a short time with Tarbes Gespe Bigorre of France's Ligue Féminine de Basketball in 2007.[3]
International competitions
editUdoka led the Nigeria women's national basketball team to the 2004 Summer Olympics. At the Olympics, she was second in the tournament in scoring and rebounding but Nigeria finished 11th out of 12 teams. They became the first African team to ever win a game at the Olympics. Udoka also led Nigeria at the 2006 FIBA World Championship for Women, where Nigeria finished in last (16th) place.
In May 2011, Udoka was named as the new Assistant Coach for the Nigeria women's national basketball team[4] D'Tigress as they prepare for the African Nations Cup in Mali and the All Africa Games.
Coaching
editUdoka will begin her college coaching career as the women's basketball head coach at Beacon College in Leesburg, Florida, for the 2024-25 season.[5]
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beacon College Blazers (women) (New South Athletic Conference) (2024–present) | |||||||||
| 2024-25 | Beacon College | USCAA Division I (New South Athletic Conference) | |||||||
| Total: | 0–0 (–) | ||||||||
|
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
| |||||||||
References
edit- ^ Ime Udoka profile hoopshype.com
- ^ Mfon Udoka Archived December 1, 2008, at the Wayback Machine WNBA.com
- ^ Profile Archived July 23, 2008, at the Wayback Machine freeplayers.com
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on October 6, 2011. Retrieved May 13, 2011.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ Staff Report (July 10, 2024). "Beacon College Joins New South Athletic Conference to Compete Across Southeast". leesburg-news.com.
External links
edit- Career statistics and player information from WNBA.com and Basketball-Reference.com
- Mfon Sunday Udoka at FIBA (also at FIBA Archive)
- Mfon Udoka international stats at Basketball-Reference.com
- Mfon Udoka at Olympics.com
- Mfon Udoka at Olympedia
