Rui Hachimura

Rui Hachimura was born in 1998 in Toyama, Japan. His the first Japanese-born player to be selected in the first round of the NBA Draft (2019) and was only the fifth Japanese-born male to play NCAA Division I college basketbal. Rui's mother, Makiko, is of Japanese decent and his father, Zakari Jabil, is Beninese. Rui has three younger siblings. The name "Rui" means "base" or "fortress" in Japanese and was given to the forward by his grandfather. Hachimura caught the attention of the basketball world via a breakout performance at the FIBA U17 World Championships in Dubai in August 2014, where he averaged a tournament-best 22.1 points per game. Hachimura also led Meisei High School to a second straight winter All-Japan High School Tournament title, averaging 28.0 points in five games. The 6-foot-8 forward appeared in three games for Team Japan during the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup and averaged 13.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists per FIBA contest. Check him out on Twitter (@rui_8mura). Hachimura honed his basketball skills as a teenager in his native Japan, leading Meisei High School to multiple championships and shining in the 2014 FIBA Under-17 World Championship before heading to the United States to attend Gonzaga. The 6-foot-8 forward didn't see the court much during his freshman season with the Bulldogs, as he averaged only 4.6 minutes per game in 28 contests. His role expanded as a sophomore, however, resulting in an uptick in playing time to 20.7 minutes per game in 37 contests, including two starts. Hachimura turned many heads with his performance during that 2017-18 season, averaging 11.6 points on 56.8 percent shooting from the field while grabbing 4.7 rebounds. His strong play earned Hachimura a starting role during the 2018-19 campaign, and the talented junior responded by bursting onto the national scene as one of the top offensive players in the country. In his final season with the Bulldogs, Hachimura raised his scoring average to 19.7 points and pulled down 6.5 boards. His shooting remained elite, as he posted a 59.1 field goal percentage and added a new wrinkle to his game by drilling 41.7 percent of his three-point attempts. Hachimura's excellence resulted in a slew of honors, including a spot on the Wooden Award All-American Team, the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award and the WCC Player of the Year Award.