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Peter Jok

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Peter Jok
No. 14 – Northern Arizona Suns
PositionShooting guard / Small forward
LeagueNBA G League
Personal information
Born (1994-03-30) March 30, 1994 (age 30)
Khartoum, Sudan
NationalitySudanese
Listed height6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Listed weight205 lb (93 kg)
Career information
High school
CollegeIowa (2013–2017)
NBA draft2017: undrafted
Playing career2017–present
Career history
2017–presentNorthern Arizona Suns
Career highlights and awards
Stats at NBA.com Edit this at Wikidata
Stats at Basketball Reference Edit this at Wikidata

Kacoul Dut "Peter" Jok[1] (born March 30, 1994) is a Sudanese basketball player for the Northern Arizona Suns of the NBA G League.[2] He played college basketball for the University of Iowa of the Big Ten Conference. A 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) shooting guard, Jok is from Khartoum.

Early life

Jok was born and spent his childhood living in Khartoum, Sudan. When Peter was three years old, his father died as a general for the Sudan People's Liberation Army during the Second Sudanese Civil War. Peter's grandfather, the chief of their village, was also killed during the war.[3] Growing up, Peter was solely exposed to soccer, and had no experience with basketball. The family eventually fled to Uganda and then Kenya to escape the war.[4][3] They joined many other Sudanese refugees in Des Moines, Iowa, which was where they moved to in December 2003.[3] Jok arrived in the United States without knowing any English.[4]

In fourth grade, Jok was asked by his friends to play basketball for the Greenwood Elementary School team, and he became the tallest player on the team. He drew the attention of Mike Nixon, who wanted to create a fourth-grade Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) team at the time. He watched Jok play at a recreational game in Des Moines, and even though he did not touch the ball during the entire game, Jok was asked to join Nixon's team.[3] Jok was reluctant to play basketball at this point in his life, but he made the all-tournament team at the fourth grade AAU state championship. In seventh grade, he won the Spiece tournament title at Fort Wayne, Indiana.[3] He received offers from colleges as early as eighth grade.[5]

High school career

Jok attended Theodore Roosevelt High School in Des Moines for his first two seasons of high school basketball. As a freshman, he was ranked by Scout.com as one of the top 10 recruits in the United States.[5] In 2010, he was invited to the Nike Top 100 camp in St. Louis, making him one of 30 freshmen to attend the event. At the camp, he injured his knee, and thinking that it was tendinitis, he continued to play as a sophomore. However, he later learned that he was suffering from a torn patellar tendon, and he underwent surgery in June 2011. In his sophomore year, Jok averaged 18.5 points and seven rebounds, earning second team all-state and all-conference honors.[6] Following his second season, he transferred to Valley High School in West Des Moines, Iowa, where he was coached by Jeff Horner, who was the all-time assists leader at University of Iowa.[6] Initially, he found it difficult to get back in rhythm.[3] After recovering as a junior, Jok averaged 10.2 points and 4.3 rebounds, shooting 37 percent on three-pointers.[6] In the following season, he was named first-team all-state and first-team Parade All-American, averaging 23.6 points, which made him the top scorer in the Iowa Class 4A.[6]

College career

During his freshman year at the University of Iowa (2013–14) Jok played 9.4 MPG for the Hawkeyes, averaging 4.4 PPG and 34.8% on 3P%, the eighth-best mark for a freshman.[6] He also tied a freshman record by scoring 10 or more points and shooting 80 percent or more in a first-round NCAA Tournament game against the University of Tennessee.[6] As a sophomore, he played in all 34 games and averaged 7.0 PPG and 34.3% on 3-pointers. Jok showed massive improvement his junior season, scoring 16.1 PPG in 27.7 MPG, while also shooting 40.2% on 3P% (80/199).[6] He was named second team all-conference in the Big Ten.

Jok's senior season saw the shooting guard continue to grow as a player. Jok led the Big Ten in scoring at 19.9 PPG. In 30.7 MPG he also hauled in 5.5 RPG and added 2.6 APG. Jok's shooting continued to impress, as he led the Big Ten in FT% at 91.1% (154/169) and was fifth in the Big Ten in 3P% at 38.0% (84/221). He was named first team all-conference in the Big Ten, was an AP Senior All-American, and earned an honorable mention on the AP All-American team. He won the 2017 College Three-Point Shooting contest at the 2017 Final Four on his 23rd birthday.

Jok finished his Iowa career with over 1500 points and 400 rebounds.

Professional career

Northern Arizona Suns (2017–present)

After being undrafted for the 2017 NBA draft, Jok played for the New Orleans Pelicans in Las Vegas during the 2017 NBA Summer League. He recorded around nine points per game in three games with the Pelicans.[7] On September 22, 2017, Jok signed a partially guaranteed deal with the Phoenix Suns.[8] He was waived by Phoenix before playing a single game with them on October 11, 2017. He was called up by the Northern Arizona Suns as an affiliate player on October 24, 2017. Jok made his professional debut on November 4, 2017, playing in only 8 minutes of action and recording a single rebound in a 126–118 loss to the Agua Caliente Clippers.[9] Jok averaged 4.9 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 0.7 assists per game with Northern Arizona.[10]

Personal life

Jok's mother, Amelia Ring Bol, is a member of the South Sudan parliament. She visits Peter and the rest of her family in Des Moines occasionally.[11] His legal guardian in Iowa is Mike Nixon.[6] He has an older brother, Dau, and a younger brother, Jo Jo. [12] Jo Jo played football as a defensive lineman at Dowling Catholic High School and Iowa Western Community College.[11] Jok's uncle was the late former NBA center Manute Bol, cousin to Manute's son Bol Bol, and Luol Deng, who is currently playing professional basketball for the Los Angeles Lakers, is one of his mother's cousins.[13]

On April 26, 2014, Jok was arrested at 2:43 am for driving under the influence after turning on an improper lane without a safety flag. In addition, one of his moped's rear taillights was missing its cover. After Jok denied the accusations, he found to have watery eyes and an alcoholic smell, with a blood alcohol content of .082. He was taken into custody and remained at the Johnson County Jail until the middle of the day.[1] His license was revoked.[14] Jok pleaded guilty on May 2 and participated in a weekend drunk-driving program.[14] On July 15, 2014, Jok was arrested a second time for driving with a revoked license. University of Iowa athletics director Gary Barta said, "I'm very disappointed to learn about this, especially in light of the fact that Peter had a previous incident earlier this summer".[14] Jok was incarcerated for four days at the Johnson County Jail, but his status with the team was unaffected.[15]

References

  1. ^ a b Dochterman, Scott. "Iowa's Jok arrested for OWI". The Gazette. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  2. ^ "Suns Sign Peter Jok". Hoops Rumors. Retrieved 2017-09-15.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Brown, Rick. "Peter Jok survived war, injury to become Hawkeye hoops recruit". Hawk Central. Archived from the original on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2016. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ a b Johnson, David. "Sudanese immigrant trying to take the basketball world by storm". Drake Journalism. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  5. ^ a b Trahan, Kevin. "Iowa's Peter Jok went from superstar 8th grader to afterthought. Now he's one of the Big Ten's top players". SB Nation. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h "Peter Jok Bio". HawkeyeSports.com. Retrieved 8 March 2016. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |website= (help)
  7. ^ https://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2017/8/22/16187570/peter-jok-to-sign-partially-guaranteed-contract-with-phoenix-suns
  8. ^ "Suns Sign Anthony Bennett and Peter Jok". NBA.com. September 22, 2017. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
  9. ^ http://gleague.nba.com/games/20171104/ACCNAS/
  10. ^ "Final 2017-18 NBA G League stats for ex-Iowa collegians". The Gazette. March 27, 2018. Retrieved May 21, 2018.
  11. ^ a b Doxsie, Don. "For Jok brothers, basketball meeting is one shining moment". Quad-City Times. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  12. ^ Zeitlin, Dave (November 22, 2013). "For Jok Family, Penn-Iowa A Long Way From Sudan". Comcast SportsNet Philly. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  13. ^ Berkman, Seth (March 18, 2016). "March Madness: Upsets, Upsets and More Upsets". The New York Times. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  14. ^ a b c "2nd moped arrest for Peter Jok". ESPN. Associated Press. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  15. ^ Dochterman, Scott. "Jok serving 4 days in jail". The Gazette. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
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