Reddic living his hoop dreams in Hungary

Photo credit: Tamas Unger

By David Driver, Special Correspondent

Győr, Hungary – Juvonte Reddic drove inside the lane and scored a basket, then pumped his fist in celebration. Fans of his team roared their approval, but those chants were in Hungarian and not the English cheers that were so familiar on Broad Street in Richmond.

The 6-foot-9 Reddic, who played basketball for the Rams from 2010-14, is playing this season for a team in the top pro league in Hungary. He was part of the Rams Final Four team in 2011.

His team played here recently in northwestern Hungary in the Hungarian Cup, an annual event that this season began with eight teams in a single-elimination format. Reddic’s club lost in the title game on Feb. 16 to Szolnok, a team that featured

Among the American teammates with Reddic are former JMU standout Ron Curry and Darrin Govens, a fellow product of the Atlantic 10 who played in college at St. Joseph’s. The head coach of the team is Gasper Okorn, who is from hoop-crazy Slovenia but speaks English well.

Reddic, 26, scored 11 points in the title game of the Hungarian Cup on Feb. 16 and was averaging 13.8 points per game in the Hungarian league in the first 18 contests for Szombathely. Before coming to Hungary he had played in Italy, the D League, Greece and Belgium.

Other former Rams overseas this year, according to EuroBasket.com, include Justin Tuoyo and Melvin Johnson in Italy; Teddy Okereafor, JeQuan Lewis and Justin Tillman in Greece; Antravious Simmons and B.A. Walker in France; Jamal Shuler in Israel; Jamie Skeen in Finland; Brandon Rozzell in Iceland; Reco McCarter in Germany; Lance Kearse in Spain and Rob Brandenburg in Georgia.

Editor’s note: David Driver is a native of Harrisonburg and has interviewed American basketball players in 12 different countries in Europe. He has covered VCU basketball games since the 1980s, and lived three years with his family in Szeged, Hungary. Since then he has made several return trips to interview American players from the Atlantic 10 and other conferences. He can be reached at davidsdriver.com