Ronald Ross (basketball)
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 11, 1983 Hobbs, New Mexico, U.S. |
| Listed height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) |
| Listed weight | 185 lb (84 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Hobbs (Hobbs, New Mexico) |
| College | Texas Tech (2001–2005) |
| NBA draft | 2005: undrafted |
| Playing career | 2005–2018 |
| Position | Point guard |
| Number | 10 |
| Coaching career | 2018–2020 |
| Career history | |
Playing | |
| 2005–2006 | Castelletto Ticino |
| 2006–2007 | Butte Daredevils |
| 2007 | Albany Patroons |
| 2007–2008 | MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg |
| 2008 | Artland Dragons |
| 2009 | Maccabi Givat Shmuel |
| 2009 | Maccabi Haifa |
| 2009–2010 | Artland Dragons |
| 2010–2011 | Syntainics |
| 2011–2013 | Jolly JBŠ |
| 2013–2014 | Apollon Patras |
| 2014 | Jolly JBŠ |
| 2014 | ESSM Le Portel |
| 2014–2016 | Pitești |
| 2016–2017 | Keravnos |
| 2017 | Trikala 2000 |
| 2017–2018 | Keravnos |
Coaching | |
| 2018–2020 | Texas Tech (graduate assistant) |
| Career highlights | |
| |
Ronald Ross (born February 11, 1983) is an American retired professional basketball player and coach. He played internationally for a number of years but he is best known for his collegiate career at Texas Tech University.
High school
A native of the Southwest, Ross starred at Hobbs High School in Hobbs, New Mexico.[1] He was an integral part of three consecutive state championships from 1999 to 2001, including an undefeated campaign as a sophomore in 1998–99 (27–0).[1] Hobbs High School won the 1999 and 2001 state championships at the University of New Mexico's famous home court, The Pit.[1] And while Ross performed well throughout his prep career – having been named USA Today's New Mexico State Player of the Year as a senior – he found himself without any four-year college scholarship offers.[1][2] In one game that season he recorded 38 points, 8 steals, 8 rebounds, 7 assists and 5 dunks.[3]
College
Ross decided to walk on to the Texas Tech basketball team as a freshman in 2001–02, in spite of his mother's urging to attend one year of junior college instead.[1] It was Bob Knight's first year at Tech and he needed talented walk-ons to begin building his roster.[1] It took until Ross' junior year to earn a scholarship, however.[1] Years later his mother said, "I had to support him. It was expensive and hard at first, but I'd have to say it's worked out."[1] The year he earned his scholarship saw him more than double his scoring average from 4.5 as a sophomore to 10.1 as a junior.[4] He started 31 of 34 games played, and rounded out his season averages with 3.1 assists and 1.5 steals.[4]
Knight made Ross a team captain when he became a senior in 2004–05.[1] Ross was known for his work ethic[3] and later that season garnered praise from Knight, who said "He's an all-time example to kids as to what they can do with what they have."[1] He again substantially increased his scoring average, netting 17.5 points per game to along with 5.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 2.6 steals per game.[4] The 6th-seeded Red Raiders advanced to the NCAA tournament's Sweet Sixteen behind Ross' great play.[1] In the opening round win against 11th-seeded UCLA, Ross scored a then-school record for points in an NCAA Tournament game with 28 (later surpassed by Jarrett Culver in 2019).[1] In the next round against 3rd-seeded Gonzaga, he scored 24 points, including a go-ahead three-pointer with 1:06 remaining as well as two free throws to clinch the Red Raiders' two-point win.[1] Ross garnered several individual accolades. For Big 12 Conference honors he was named to the All-Big 12 first-team and the All-Defensive Team.[2] Nationally, he was named the winner of the Chip Hilton Player of the Year Award, given by the NCAA to a Division I player who demonstrated outstanding character, leadership, integrity, humility, sportsmanship, and talent.[2] Ross finished his collegiate career with 1,174 points.[4]
Statistics
| Texas Tech statistics[4] | |||||||||||||||||||
| Year | G | GS | FG | FGA | PCT | FT | FTA | PCT | REB | AVG | A | AVG | TO | B | S | MIN | PTS | AVG | |
| 2001–02 | 30 | 5 | 38 | 78 | .487 | 17 | 26 | .654 | 32 | 1.1 | 29 | 1.0 | 24 | 1 | 12 | 317 | 93 | 3.1 | |
| 2002–03 | 35 | 20 | 68 | 154 | .442 | 16 | 26 | .615 | 71 | 2.0 | 86 | 2.5 | 33 | 9 | 56 | 697 | 159 | 4.5 | |
| 2003–04 | 34 | 31 | 132 | 268 | .493 | 57 | 73 | .781 | 117 | 3.4 | 106 | 3.1 | 57 | 7 | 50 | 981 | 344 | 10.1 | |
| 2004–05 | 33 | 31 | 232 | 447 | .519 | 74 | 97 | .763 | 180 | 5.5 | 99 | 3.0 | 56 | 3 | 86 | 1,138 | 578 | 17.5 | |
| Totals | 132 | 87 | 470 | 947 | .496 | 164 | 222 | .739 | 400 | 3.0 | 320 | 2.4 | 170 | 20 | 204 | 3,133 | 1,174 | 8.9 | |
Professional
Following Texas Tech, Ross went undrafted in the 2005 NBA draft.[5] He quickly found a spot playing for Castelletto Ticino in Serie A2 Basket, Italy's second-tier league.[6] After one year he returned to the United States to play in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) for the Butte Daredevils, and then in the USBL for the Albany Patroons.[6] During his time with the Patroons he earned All-USBL first-team honors and was also named the league's defensive player of the year.[7][8]
Overall, Ross' professional career spanned 13 years (2005–2018) and included stops in Italy, Germany, Israel, Croatia, Greece, France, Cyprus, and Romania.[6]