With The Basketball Tournament (TBT) weeks away, the Iowa United is adding another former Hawkeye to the roster in Melsahn Basabe.
The Basketball Tournament is less than a month away, and the Iowa United are getting ready to take on the Wichita State Alumni team, the AfterShocks.
They will be doing it with one more Hawkeye than originally anticipated as former Iowa basketball player Melsahn Basabe is going to be joining the squad.
Basabe played four seasons for the Iowa basketball team from 2010 to 2014 and was a 101 game starter for the Hawks. During his 4-year career with the Hawks, Basabe averaged 8.2 points per game and 5.5 rebounds per game while shooting 53% from the field. He was also named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team and also named Honorable Mention All-Big Ten.
In his time with the Hawkeyes, he got valuable tournament experience playing in the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) and the NCAA Tournament.
At 6’7” and 220 pounds, he gives the Iowa United another option down low to pair with Matt Tiby, Nick McGlynn, and Cyrus Tate. In addition to Tate, Basabe will be joining fellow Hawkeyes Peter Jok, Nicholas Baer, and Jeff Horner.
Prior to this, Basabe has spent several years playing basketball overseas with nine different teams in seven different leagues (Finland, Greece, Belgium, Poland, Italy, Puerto Rico and Israel).
This past season, he was in Puerto Rico playing for Brujos de Guayama where he started 3 games out of 31 and averaged 5 points and 3 rebounds per contest for the 9th place team.
Basabe is expected to join the Iowa United the week of the contest when the team will be getting together for a few practices and a meet and greet held in Ankeny, Iowa.
Then, Iowa United, along with Basabe, will be heading down to Wichita to take on the AfterShocks in Wichita July 25th at 8 PM. Tickets are still for sale, but if you are unable to make it down, you catch the game on ESPN.