By Stefan Djordjevic/ info@eurohoops.net
A month full of action in Basketball Champions League and there is no sign of slowing down. Every week a new face leaves the fans speechless and Gameday 5 had a few also.
James Feldeine put on one of the best, if not the best personal performance reminding everybody what he is capable of while Ali Traore practically decided the game for Strasbourg against Promitheas proving he never backs down.
But there is more. Let’s not forget Stevan Jelovac who was on fire against Antwerp dropping 30 points, seven rebounds and two assists handing Brose Bamberg the win.
And that wasn’t even close to his best show. Time to look at Stevan Jelovac’s basketball journey and the record-breaker.
A kid aiming for the crown
As most kids do, Jelovac (born 1989) chose basketball in order to have fun and hang out with his friends but, of course, he quickly fell in love with the game. His biggest early influences were the Sacramento Kings because of Serbian legends Vlade Divac (Kings GM) and Predrag Stojakovic (Kings assistant GM) who played together in Sacramento from 1998 to 2004.
He learned the basics with coach Janko Lukovski in Novi Sad (his birthplace) and later moved to Partizan as a 19-year-old. When it was time for his first professional contract, Jelovac chose Vizura (currently Mega Bemax) as his first stepping stone back in 2008.
Jelovac quickly stole the spotlight and it earned him an eight-month stint with Crvena Zvezda in 2010. However, he returned to Mega and in his last season with the club averaged 13.4 points and 6.3 rebounds.
“Mega is Mega – it is in my heart”, he said for Mozzartsport on an occasion.
Diving into the international waters
In the summer of 2011, Jelovac signed his first international contract starting his European journey. It was a deal with Antalya in Turkey where he showed some consistency in play scoring a double-digit average. He also confirmed it in the following season, with Juvecaserta in Italy.
His next stop was Lietuvos Rytas in the 2013-14 season as he experienced EuroLeague and EuroCup for the first time. In the 18 games he played in the elite European competitions, Jelovac posted 6.3 points and 2.5 rebounds in 13 minutes of play on average.
Spain was the next destination as he signed with Zaragoza in 2014 and this time around he settled down a bit staying until 2017. In the first two seasons, he played 33 games in EuroCup in total averaging 13.8 points and 5.4 rebounds.
Dreams coming true
It was time for Russia, Nizhny Novgorod, and the ‘Big Bang’. In that 2017-18 season, he recorded best career average of 19.8 points and 7.1 rebounds split amongst VTB, FIBA Europe Cup and Basketball Champions League Qualifiers.
Those numbers were impressive but wait, there’s more. On February 15, 2018, Jelovac posted an astonishing 49 points and 15 rebounds against Kalev for a total value of 55. He set the VTB League record – which still stands – of points scored in one game passing Keith Langford with 42.
Just a few days before that, he was selected by coach Aleksandar Djordjevic to join the national team for the World Cup Qualifiers (played five games so far) and just like that, all of a sudden, in just a few days, Jelovac’s dreams came true with 28 years of age. Great season, amazing record and a chance to help his country.
His journey led him to Brose Bamberg and Basketball Champions League, and once again he treated the crowd with a performance to remember. The 30 points against Antwerp were certainly something to remember but we know Jelovac has got more up his sleeve and it’s just the matter of moment when he will ‘pull out the ace’…
Photo Credit: Basketball Champions League