In 2014 Yogi Ferrell and Noah Vonleh were both all-Big Ten performers in Bloomington.
A decade later, the pair will be reunited in of all places, China.
Both Ferrell and Vonleh will play the 2023-24 season for the Shanghai Sharks, the Chinese club has announced.
The 6-foot Ferrell won a pair of Big Ten titles (2013, 2016) at IU in connection with his freshman and senior seasons. He is Indiana’s all-time assist leader and first in three-pointers made in Big Ten games. Ferrell played in more games (137) at IU than anyone else.
Ferrell went undrafted in 2016 but spent five seasons in the NBA and played for five different teams along the way. He had career NBA averages of 7.7 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 2.3 assists in 259 appearances.
The 30-year-old Ferrell spent the last two seasons playing for EuroCup club Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana in Slovenia. He averaged 18.4 points, 2.3 rebounds, 5.1 assists in 2022-23.
Vonleh was one-and-done at IU and the No. 9 pick in the 2014 NBA Draft.
In his lone year at IU (2013-14), Vonleh averaged 11.3 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks while shooting 52% from the field overall and 48.5% from distance.
Ultimately, the 6-foot-10 Vonleh won the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, and he won the Big Ten Freshman of the Week seven times along the way. He finished the year with 10 double-doubles and finished third nationally in rebounds per game by a freshman. His 3-point field goal percentage was the best in the country for players with more than 30 attempts.
Throughout his 8-year NBA career, the now 27-year old Vonleh played for eight different teams. He has career NBA averages of 4.7 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 0.7 assists in 362 appearances.
In their lone season together at IU, the Hoosiers finished just 17-15 and missed the NCAA Tournament.
The Shanghai Sharks are the team that Yao Ming famously played for before launching his NBA career. In 2023 the Sharks were disqualified from the CBA playoffs for fixing games.
The Daily Hoosier –“Where Indiana fans assemble when they’re not at Assembly”
- Find us on Facebook: thedailyhoosier
- You can follow us on Twitter: @daily_hoosier
- Seven ways to support completely free IU coverage at no cost to you.
