Zeke Nnaji

Ezekiel Tobechukwu "Zeke" Nnaji was born in Minneapolis on January 9, 2001. His last name is pronounced "Nah-jee". Zeke's father Alphan is from Nigeria and his mother Janel is from Minnesota. Nnaji has a younger sister, Maya, who is a highly regarded high school basketball player. As a youngster, Nnaji originally played baseball and soccer. He has played the piano since the first grade and composes his own music. Nnaji started his high school career at Lakeville North High School in Lakeville, Minnesota, but later transferred to Hopkins High School in Minnetonka. As a senior at Hopkins, Nnaji averaged 24.1 points and 9.4 rebounds per game. He also led Hopkins to a Minnesota 4A state title over Lakeville North. For college, Nnaji attended the University of Arizona for one season before declaring himself eligible for the 2020 NBA Draft. Fans can follow the Wildcat product on Twitter via @ZekeNnaji_Hoopz. Nnaji entered his first and only season with Arizona as an under-the-radar prospect due largely to the fact Chase Jeter was expected to see a large share of center minutes. Instead, Nnaji shined right out of the gates and continued to dominate the stat sheets while Jeter missed time down the stretch. The Lakeville, MN native ended up leading the Wildcats in scoring (16.1 PPG), rebounding (8.6 RPG) and field goal percentage (.570). He reached double figures in all but three games in the 2019-20 campaign, with his best scoring effort coming early, when he racked up 26 points and 11 boards Nov. 14 against San Jose State. At the conclusion of the season, Nnaji was named Pac-12 Rookie of the Year, in addition to earning first-team all-Pac-12 honors. With hopes of sneaking into the first round, Nnaji officially declared for the 2020 NBA Draft just a few weeks after the season's conclusion.