Tèmítọ́pẹ́ Títílọlá Olúwatóbilọ́ba "Temi" Fagbenle is an American-born Nigerian-British professional basketball player for the Indiana Fever of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and for Beşiktaş of the Turkish Super League. She was chosen for the Great Britain team at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
.jpg) Fagbenle in 2019 | |
| No. 14 – Beşiktaş | |
|---|---|
| Position | Forward |
| League | Turkish Super League |
| Personal information | |
| Born | 8 September 1992 Baltimore, Maryland |
| Nationality | Nigerian/British/American |
| Listed height | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) |
| Listed weight | 180 lb (82 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school |
|
| College | |
| WNBA draft | 2016: 3rd round, 35th overall pick |
| Selected by the Minnesota Lynx | |
| Playing career | 2017–present |
| Career history | |
| 2017–2019 | Minnesota Lynx |
| 2017–2019 | CCC Polkowice |
| 2019 | BOTAŞ |
| 2019–2020 | Perfumerías Avenida |
| 2020–2021 | Reyer Venezia |
| 2021–2022 | Çukurova Basketbol |
| 2022–2023 | ZVVZ USK Praha |
| 2023–2024 | London Lions |
| 2024–present | Indiana Fever |
| 2024–present | Beşiktaş |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
| Stats at Basketball Reference | |
Personal life
editFagbenle was born on 8 September 1992 to a Nigerian family in Baltimore, Maryland, and has eleven siblings, including actor O. T. Fagbenle, film producer Luti Fagbenle, and video producer Oladapo 'Daps' Fagbenle.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] Her family moved to London, United Kingdom when she was aged 2 and she began playing basketball at the Haringey Angels club.[8] When she was fifteen she returned to the United States to study at Blair Academy in New Jersey.[5] She attended Harvard University before transferring to the University of Southern California for her final year of NCAA basketball.[6] As of 2012[update] she was 1.93 metres (6 ft 4 in) tall and weighs 79.5 kilograms (175 lb).[4]
Basketball career
edit
During her time at Blair Academy Fagbenle was voted on to the McDonald's All American High School team.[5] She has represented Great Britain at the under-16, 18 and 20 levels and competed at the 2011 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship held in Serbia.[6]
She was named in the British team for the women's basketball tournament at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London having been fast-tracked into the senior side from the under-20s.[9] She averaged 4.8 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1.2 blocks and 1 steal in 19.2 minutes per game. GB went 0-5 and failed to qualify from their group.[10]
Her selection for the Olympics came after a 12-month period in which she was unable to play for the Harvard Crimson women's basketball team due to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) declaring her ineligible.[6] Fagbenle had taken the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) exam whilst at school in the UK and NCAA rules say that an athlete must be enrolled in college within two years of sitting for the exam; Fagbenle took an additional year to graduate from high school because she repeated a year after moving to the United States.[11]
Fagbenle has won several national championships in Spain, Italy and Great Britain as well as the EuroCup 2024 with the London Lions. In her WNBA rookie season 2017 she won the WNBA championship as a member of the Minnesota Lynx.
In January 2024, Fagbenle was signed by WNBA team Indiana Fever to a training camp contract.[12] She made the final roster and appeared in the first eight regular season games (24 minutes / 9.1 points / 5.6 rebounds) during the first month of the season for the Fever before suffering an undisclosed left foot injury.[13]
Career statistics
edit| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game | RPG | Rebounds per game |
| APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game | BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game |
| TO | Turnovers per game | FG% | Field-goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field-goal percentage | FT% | Free-throw percentage |
| Bold | Career best | ° | League leader |
| † | Denotes seasons in which Fagbenle won a WNBA championship |
WNBA
editRegular season
editStats current through end of 2024 regular season
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | TO | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Did not play (continuing education) | ||||||||||||
| 2017† | Minnesota | 21 | 0 | 4.2 | .500 | — | .778 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 1.2 |
| 2018 | Minnesota | 30 | 2 | 9.4 | .506 | — | .696 | 2.0 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 3.1 |
| 2019 | Minnesota | 18 | 0 | 15.1 | .519 | .167 | .722 | 2.9 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.8 | 5.4 |
| 2020 | Did not appear in WNBA | ||||||||||||
| 2021 | |||||||||||||
| 2022 | |||||||||||||
| 2023 | |||||||||||||
| 2024 | Indiana | 22 | 2 | 18.9 | .509 | .167 | .786 | 4.7 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 1.2 | 6.4 |
| Career | 4 years, 2 teams | 91 | 4 | 11.6 | .510 | .167 | .744 | 2.6 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 1.0 | 3.9 |
Playoffs
edit| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | TO | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017† | Minnesota | 2 | 0 | 2.0 | .667 | — | — | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 |
| 2018 | Minnesota | 1 | 0 | 24.0 | .875 | 1.000 | — | 4.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 15.0 |
| 2019 | Minnesota | 1 | 0 | 16.0 | .500 | — | — | 1.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 4.0 |
| 2024 | Indiana | 2 | 1 | 24.0 | .444 | .500 | — | 5.5 | 2.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 4.5 |
| Career | 4 years, 2 teams | 4 | 1 | 15.3 | .625 | .667 | — | 2.8 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 5.3 |
College
edit| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | TO | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012–13 | Harvard | 29 | 28 | 25.0 | .578 | .667 | .684 | 7.7 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 2.8 | 12.3 |
| 2013–14 | Harvard | 30 | 30 | 25.7 | .539 | .286 | .705 | 9.3 | 1.7 | 0.8 | 1.4 | 2.6 | 13.0 |
| 2014–15 | Harvard | 27 | 27 | 29.4 | .490 | .250 | .773 | 10.1 | 2.0 | 1.2 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 14.3 |
| 2015–16 | Southern California | 32 | 32 | 30.3 | .514 | .250 | .705 | 8.7 | 1.3 | 1.8 | 1.2 | 2.1 | 13.6 |
| Career | 118 | 117 | 27.6 | .526 | .393 | .722 | 8.9 | 1.5 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 2.6 | 13.3 | |
References
edit- ^ "Temi Fagbenle". WNBA.com - Official Site of the WNBA.
- ^ Fagbenle, Temi (7 July 2012). "Passions: Basketball star loves to tread the boards" – via www.thetimes.co.uk.
- ^ "Temi Fagbenle has many ambitions, and one is to play for the Lynx". Star Tribune.
- ^ a b "Temi Fagbenle". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
- ^ a b c Gallagher, Brendan (31 May 2012). "London 2012 Olympics: Temi Fagbenle to take centre stage for British team after being fast-tracked from juniors". The Telegraph. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
- ^ a b c d McCluskey, Jack (25 July 2012). "Temi Fagbenle on English holiday". ESPN Boston. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
- ^ Henson, Mike (4 February 2020). "Haringey, Harvard & Hollywood: The fabulous Temi Fagbenle and family". BBC Sport. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
- ^ "The fabulous Miss Fagbenle & family". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
- ^ Telegraph Staff (22 June 2012). "London 2012 Olympics: Temi Fagbenle in Team GB women's basketball squad". The Telegraph. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
- ^ "Temi Fagbenle's profile - 2012 Olympic Women". FIBA. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
- ^ Nocera, Joe (27 January 2012). "Et Tu, Harvard?". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
- ^ Yapkowitz, David (19 January 2024). "Fever sign key role player ahead of WNBA Free Agency". ClutchPoints. Archived from the original on 3 May 2024. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
- ^ Peterson, Chloe (25 June 2024). "Temi Fagbenle gave Fever 'a spark' before her injury. She's back, ready to give more". The Indianapolis Star. Archived from the original on 25 June 2024. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
- ^ "NCAA Statistics". web1.ncaa.org. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
- ^ "Temi Fagbenle College Stats". Sports Reference. Retrieved 17 August 2024.