Omar Strong

Omar Strong Sr. (born May 16, 1990)[1] is an American professional basketball player for the Windsor Express of the NBL Canada. In 2012–13, he was a senior at Texas Southern University and was named the Southwestern Athletic Conference Player of the Year.

Omar Strong
Strong shoots the ball in 2015
Windsor Express
PositionPoint guard
Personal information
Born (1990-05-16) May 16, 1990
Baltimore, Maryland
NationalityAmerican
Listed height5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Listed weight162 lb (73 kg)
Career information
High schoolFredrick Douglass
(Baltimore, Maryland)
College
NBA draft2013 / Undrafted
Playing career2013–present
Career history
2013Pee Dee Vipers
2014Beroe
2014–2015Mississauga Power
2015–2017UJAP Quimper 29
2017–2018Niagara River Lions
2018–presentWindsor Express
Career highlights and awards

Early life

Strong was born on May 16, 1990 and brought up in Baltimore, Maryland.

High school career

Strong attended Fredrick Douglass High School in Baltimore, Maryland.[2] Playing the point guard position, he averaged 22 points, four assists and three steals per game as a senior in 2007–08.[2] That year Frederick Douglass won the Baltimore city title.[2] Strong was named to The Baltimore Sun All-Metro team in each of his final two seasons.[2]

Collegiate career

Junior college

Due to poor academic performance, Strong was unable to commit to a four-year college basketball program right out of high school.[2] He enrolled at Cecil College, a junior college in Maryland, to work on his academics while also gain some playing experience at the next level.[2][3] He played for Cecil in 2008–09, took one season off to focus solely on school, then re-joined the team in 2010–11.[2] Numerous mid-major universities offered him scholarships after his second season at Cecil.[2] Strong ultimately chose to play for the Texas Southern Tigers, citing "I think I'll have a better experience if I go away."[2]

Texas Southern

In 2011–12, his junior year, Strong led the Tigers in scoring.[2] He guided them to the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Tournament championship game, where the winner gains an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament, but Texas Southern lost 71–69 to Mississippi Valley State; Strong scored 30 points in the loss.[2] At the end of the season he was named to the All-SWAC Second Team.[2]

Strong finished his collegiate career upon the conclusion of the 2012–13 season. He finished second in the conference in scoring with 17.0 points per game, made a school-record 120 three-pointers,[4] and led the SWAC in free throw percentage (84.8%).[5] The Tigers went 16–2 in conference games en route to being the regular season conference champion, and Strong was named the SWAC Player of the Year in addition to a First Team all-conference bid.[5]

Professional career

In February 2014 Strong signed a contract with Bulgarian club Beroe.[6] He scored a season-high 24 points in a game against Spartak Pleven.[7][8] He appeared in 9 games throughout the season, averaging 14.7 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game.[8] He joined Mississauga Power of NBL Canada for the 2014–15 season.[9] On January 11, 2015 Strong scored a career-high 44 points against the Island Storm, also setting the franchise record in scoring.[10][11][12] In the same match Strong set a league-high for NBL Canada in three point shots making 11.[10][12] In 29 regular season games, Strong averaged 18.7 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game on 32.7 minutes per game.[12] On April 13, 2015, Strong was named Sixth Man of the Year of the NBL Canada.[13] According to him, Mississauga Power head coach Kyle Julius "really saw something in him".[13] He was named in the All-NBL Canada Second-team for the 2014–15 season.[14] By the end of the 2014–15 season, he became the Power's all-time leader in three-pointers, with 148, passing Nick Okorie, who had 141.[14]

On July 1, 2015, Strong signed with UJAP Quimper 29 of the Nationale Masculine 1 (NM1) in France.[15][16]

Strong competes for Team City of Gods in The Basketball Tournament. He was a point guard on the 2015 team who made it to the semifinals, losing to Overseas Elite 84-71.

On February 6, 2018, Strong signed with the Windsor Express of the National Basketball League of Canada.[17]

Personal

Strong is the father of Omar Strong Jr., for whom he planned to return to Baltimore while in college. He said, "It's just like I know what I came up from. I want him to have everything I didn't and much more. If I'm [struggling to get] through something, I just think about my son and get through it."[2] Strong often uses his son for motivation and inspiration.[2]

References
  1. "#5 Omar Strong". ESPN Internet Ventures. 2013. Retrieved May 14, 2013.
  2. Bracken, Matt (September 6, 2012). "Sweet 16: Omar Strong, Texas Southern". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved May 14, 2013.
  3. "Omar Strong – 2011–2012 Men's Basketball". Athletics. Texas Southern University. 2012. Retrieved May 14, 2013.
  4. Roberts, Andrew (March 31, 2013). "Texas Southern's Strong named to NABC All-American Team". Texas Southern University. Retrieved May 14, 2013.
  5. "TSU Senior Omar Strong Headlines All-SWAC Team". Men's Basketball. Southwestern Athletic Conference. March 8, 2013. Retrieved May 14, 2013.
  6. "Former TSU guard Strong signs professional contract". TSU Athletics website. February 11, 2014. Retrieved May 24, 2015.
  7. "Загуба за "Берое" в Плевен (Loss for Beroe in Pleven)" (in Bulgarian). bnr.bg. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
  8. "Omar Strong Season 2013/14". FIBA. Retrieved May 24, 2015.
  9. "Omar Strong Lights Up Hershey Centre, Mississauga Power Roll to 2-0". North Pole Hoops. November 9, 2014. Retrieved May 24, 2015.
  10. "Weekly Report Volume 4 , Issue 1 1" (PDF). NBL Canada. January 11, 2015. Retrieved May 24, 2015.
  11. "Power lost against PEI Island Storm 103-109". atinitonews.com. January 11, 2015. Retrieved May 24, 2015.
  12. "Omar Strong Season 2014/2015". FIBA. Retrieved May 24, 2015.
  13. "Omar Strong Wins NBLC Sixth Man of the Year". PowerBasketball.ca. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  14. "2014-15 NBL Canada Post Season Guide" (PDF). NBLCanada.ca. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 May 2015. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
  15. "Omar Strong (ex Mississauga P.) agreed terms with Quimper". Eurobasket.com. Retrieved June 3, 2015.
  16. "N1 : L'américain Omar Strong rejoint l'Ujap Quimper". Basket-ballworld.fr. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
  17. "Eurobasket Transactions: Windsor Express land Omar Strong". eurobasket.com. February 6, 2018. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
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