E. J. Rowland

E. J. Rowland
No. 22 – Khimki
Position Point guard
League VTB United League
Eurocup
Personal information
Born (1983-05-18) May 18, 1983
Salinas, California
Nationality American / Bulgarian
Listed height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Listed weight 190 lb (86 kg)
Career information
High school Palma (Salinas, California)
College
NBA draft 2005 / Undrafted
Playing career 2005–present
Career history
2005–2006 Florida Flame
2006 Sydney Kings
2006–2007 Townsville Crocodiles
2007 Barons LMT
2007–2008 Artland Dragons
2008–2009 Telekom Baskets Bonn
2009–2011 Vanoli Cremona
2011–2012 Unicaja Málaga
2012–2013 VEF Rīga
2013–2015 Banvit
2015–2016 Hapoel Jerusalem
2016–present Khimki
Career highlights and awards

Earl Jerrod "E. J." Rowland (born May 18, 1983[1]) is an American-born Bulgarian professional basketball player for Khimki of the VTB United League. Standing at 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m), he plays the point guard position.

College career

Rowland began his college career with CSU Dominguez Hills.[2] As a freshman with the Toros, he averaged 9.8 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 2.3 assists while starting 24 of 27 games.[3] Following this season, he transferred to Hartnell College, a two-year community college in Salinas, California. In his only season with the team, he led the squad in points, assists, steals, and free-throw percentage en route to being named Coast Conference Player of the Year and earning All-State honors.[3]

Rowland finished his college career with two years of NCAA basketball at St. Mary's (CA). He had two successful seasons with the Gaels, leading the team in assists in both his years there.[3] Following his senior season, he earned honorable mention All-WCC.[3]

Professional career

Rowland began his professional career in the D-League with the Florida Flame. After seeing little action off the bench for the team, he spent the 2005–06 season with Barons LMT in Latvia.[4] He then spent the 2006–07 season in Australia before landing with Artland Dragons of the Basketball Bundesliga in 2007.[4] In 2008–09, he averaged 13.6 points and 3.4 assists per game for Telekom Baskets Bonn.[5] He helped the team to the finals of the Bundesliga for the second consecutive season.[6] In July 2011 he signed a two-year deal with Unicaja Málaga in Spain.[7] After unsuccessful season for himself and team, Unicaja decided to go another direction and loaned Rowland to Latvian champions VEF Rīga.

In Latvia E.J. had a break-out year leading his team to a great season, while Rowland got multiple individual awards. After such season Rowland moved to Turkey, signing lucrative deal with Banvit.

On January 7, 2015, in a Eurocup away game against Budućnost Podgorica, he was involved in the incident. With two minutes of game remaining, a hooligan ran into the court in order to hit Sammy Mejía of Banvit, after which Rowland punch him from the back at full run. After the brawl, referee ejected him from the court.[8] He was fined by the ULEB for taking part in the incident with 30,000 euros.[9]

On August 12, 2015, Rowland signed a one-year deal with the Israeli club Hapoel Jerusalem.[10]

On August 23, 2016, Rowland signed with Russian club Khimki for the 2016–17 season.[11]

Bulgarian national basketball team

Rowland was invited to try out for the one naturalized player spot on the Bulgarian national basketball team for Eurobasket 2009.[12] He beat out Andre Owens for the naturalized spot on the roster. With the national team, he led all players at Eurobasket 2009 in minutes played, while averaging 17.7 points per game.[13] Despite his efforts, the Bulgarians finished 0–3 and were eliminated in the group stage.

References

  1. ↑ "EJ Rowland". nbadleague.com. 2014. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  2. ↑ CSUDH Athletics
  3. 1 2 3 4 E.J. Rowland at nba.com
  4. 1 2 E.J. Rowland at basketpedya.com
  5. ↑ Earl Rowland at doudiz.com
  6. ↑ Former Gael E.J. Rowland in Championship Game of German League
  7. ↑ UNICAJA adds Rowland at point
  8. ↑ "Igrači tukli huligana u Morači!". b92.net (in Serbian). Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  9. ↑ "ULEB odredio kazne za tuču u Morači". b92.net (in Serbian). Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  10. ↑ "Hapoel Jerusalem puts Rowland at point". Eurocupbasketball.com. August 12, 2015. Retrieved August 15, 2015.
  11. ↑ "E. J. Rowland joins BC Khimki". .bckhimki.ru. August 23, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
  12. ↑ US Basketball Players to Boost Bulgaria's Nationals
  13. ↑ Player Profile at eurobasket.com
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