Egor Koulechov (Hebrew: איגור קולשוב, Russian: Егор Кулешов; born November 5, 1994) is an Israeli-Russian professional basketball player for Hapoel Be'er Sheva of the Israeli Basketball Premier League. He played college basketball for Arizona State, Rice, and Florida before playing professionally in Israel. Standing at 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m), he plays at the shooting guard and the small forward positions.

Egor Koulechov
איגור קולשוב
No. 15 – Hapoel Be'er Sheva
PositionShooting guard / small forward
LeagueIsraeli Basketball Premier League
Personal information
Born (1994-11-05) November 5, 1994 (age 30)
Volgograd, Russia
NationalityIsraeli / Russian
Listed height6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Listed weight205 lb (93 kg)
Career information
High schoolSagemont (Weston, Florida)
College
NBA draft2018: undrafted
Playing career2018–present
Career history
2018–2019Maccabi Rishon LeZion
2019Hapoel Holon
2019–2020Ironi Nahariya
2020–2021UNICS Kazan
2021–2022Maccabi Rishon LeZion
2022Hapoel Tel Aviv
2022–presentHapoel Be'er Sheva
Career highlights and awards

Early life

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Koulechov was born in Volgograd, Russia, and is Jewish.[1] Koulechov lived his first 6 years in Russia before growing up in Kibbutz Neve Ur, Israel. He played for Maccabi Rishon LeZion youth team and Wingate Institute Academy.[2]

In 2011, Koulechov moved to the United States, where he enrolled at Sagemont in Weston, Florida, and played for the basketball team in the 2011–12 and 2012–13 seasons.[3]

College career

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Koulechov began his college career at Arizona State, where he averaged 3.7 points and 2.8 rebounds while shooting 43.8 percent from the field.[3] On June 4, 2014, Koulechov left for Rice after his freshman season but sat out first season per NCAA Transfer rules.[4]

In the 2016–17 season, Koulechov earned first-team All-Conference USA and Second Team NABC All-District 11 honors as a junior at Rice.[5] He was also named two-time Conference USA Player of the Week, Koulechov ranked second on the team and fifth in Conference USA with 18.2 points.[3]

Koulechov graduated from Rice in 2017 with one season of NCAA eligibility remaining; under NCAA rules, he had the option of remaining at Rice or enrolling in a graduate program elsewhere and finishing out his college basketball career at the new school. Accordingly, he announced on April 19, 2017 that he would play at Florida as a graduate transfer.[6]

In his senior year at Florida, Koulechov led the team with 6.4 rebounds per game and ranked second with 13.8 points per game. He had six games with 20+ points and nine games with at least three 3-pointers made.[3]

Professional career

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2018–19 season

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After going undrafted in the 2018 NBA draft, Koulechov joined the Minnesota Timberwolves for the 2018 NBA Summer League.[7]

On August 9, 2018, Koulechov started his professional career with Maccabi Rishon LeZion, signing a two-year deal.[8] In October 2018, Koulechov won the 2018 Israeli League Cup with Rishon LeZion. In 26 Israeli League games played for Rishon LeZion, he averaged 11.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game.

On April 17, 2019, Koulechov was loaned to Hapoel Holon for the rest of the season, joining as an injury cover for Guy Pnini.[9]

2019–20 season

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On August 15, 2019, Koulechov signed with Ironi Nahariya for the 2019–20 season.[10]

2020–21 season

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On November 25, 2020, he has signed with UNICS Kazan of the VTB United League.[11]

2021–22 season

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On July 7, 2021, Koulechov re-joined Maccabi Rishon LeZion.[12] On January 22, 2022, Koulechov signed with Hapoel Tel Aviv.[13]

2022–23 season

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On July 18, 2022, he signed with Hapoel Be'er Sheva of the Israeli Basketball Premier League.[14]

National team career

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Koulechov was a member of the Israeli U-16, U-18 and U-20 national teams.

In July 2013, he averaged 12.0 points and 4.6 rebounds for the U-20 squad, leading his team with a 93.5 free throw percentage as well as 1.7 steals per game. The team claimed 15th place in the 2013 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship.[3]

Career statistics

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Legend
  GP Games played  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     Led the league

College

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2013–14 Arizona State 27 7 14.0 .438 .333 .679 2.8 0.5 0.3 0.2 3.7
2015–16 Rice 32 32 34.4 .417 .343 .862 7.0 1.3 0.8 0.1 16.7
2016–17 Rice 35 35 34.0 .474 .474 .819 8.8 2.1 0.8 0.3 18.2
2017–18 Florida 34 34 30.6 .414 .398 .864 6.4 1.1 0.5 0.1 13.7
Career 128 108 29.0 .436 .395 .832 6.4 1.3 0.6 0.2 13.6

Source: RealGM

References

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  1. ^ "Division 1 Basketball Stars 2017-18". Jewish Sports Review. Archived from the original on December 7, 2020. Retrieved November 28, 2020.
  2. ^ "היהלום הרוסי: מסעו המרגש של איגור קולשוב". ONE.co.il (in Hebrew). April 12, 2012. Retrieved April 12, 2012.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Egor Koulechov - Men's Basketball - Florida Gators". FloridaGators.com. Retrieved May 10, 2019.
  4. ^ "Koulechov transfers to Rice men's basketball". RiceOwls.com. June 4, 2014. Retrieved June 4, 2014.
  5. ^ "Evans, Koulechov named NABC All-District 11". RiceOwls.com. March 22, 2017. Retrieved March 22, 2017.
  6. ^ "Egor Koulechov transferring to Florida from Rice". ESPN.com. April 19, 2017. Retrieved April 19, 2017.
  7. ^ "Three-Gor ready to make it rain in NBA Summer League". WCJB. June 24, 2018. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
  8. ^ "Egor Koulechov signs with Maccabi Rishon LeZion". Sportando.basketball. August 9, 2018. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
  9. ^ "קולשוב הושאל מראשל"צ לחולון עד תום העונה". ONE.co.il (in Hebrew). April 17, 2019. Retrieved April 17, 2019.
  10. ^ "איגור קולשוב עובר לעירוני נהריה". basket.co.il (in Hebrew). August 15, 2019. Retrieved August 15, 2019.
  11. ^ Carchia, Emiliano (November 25, 2020). "Unics Kazan signs Egor Koulechov". Sportando. Retrieved November 25, 2020.
  12. ^ Skerletic, Dario (July 7, 2021). "Egor Koulechov re-signs with Maccabi Rishon". Sportando. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
  13. ^ "רכש מסקרן: איגור קולשוב חתם בהפועל ת"א". ynet.co.il (in Hebrew). January 22, 2022. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
  14. ^ "Hapoel Altshuler Shaham Beer Sheva signed Egor Koulechov". balkanleague.net. July 18, 2022. Retrieved August 22, 2022.
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