Former Ute Jordan Loveridge to sign with Kobrat Lapua in Finland
Former Utah basketball star Jordan Loveridge will be continuing his professional career overseas, where he will sign with Kobrat Lapua in Lapua, Finland.
This will be Loveridge's fifth season playing professional basketball overseas, as well as being the sixth country that Loveridge will have played professional basketball in — joining Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, Poland and Austria as his previous destinations
Kobrat Lupua plays in the Korisliiga league, the highest tier of professional basketball in Finland.
Loveridge has had quite the professional career overseas.
During the 2019-20 season, he played for Swans Gmuden in Austria, averaging 17.8 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists per game. Before that, he was in Germany for the 2017-18 season playing for Miasto Szkla Krosno, where he put up 11.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2 assists per game.
Prior to that, Loveridge began his overseas career with Kormend in Hungary, posting 10.5 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game. He also played in seven games that same season with Pully Lausanne Foxes Espoirs in Switzerland, recording 18.7 points and 8.6 rebounds per game.
During his time at Utah, Loveridge was the rare four-year contributor, averaging double figures in each season with the Utes.
As a freshman, he averaged 12 points and seven rebounds per game, but was somehow left off the all-Pac-12 freshman team. His sophomore season saw him get even better after he averaged 14.7 points per game, including being named Utah's first-ever Pac-12 player of the week after he scored 27 points against Idaho State and 21 points against BYU.
His junior season as a Ute wasn't ideal as he averaged just 10 points per game, thanks in large part to a knee injury suffered during December of that season — but the Utes made it all the way to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament that year.
Loveridge then finished his senior season averaging 11.6 points and 3.8 rebounds per game, bringing his career averages to 12.2 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 129 games.
Loveridge has been a Utah man through and through after starring for West Jordan High School prior to his time with the Utes.
He broke out as a junior, averaging 23.5 points and leading his team to the state championship game — but he was ultimately told by then Utah head coach Jim Boylen that he wasn't talented enough to play for the Utes. But with Boylen gone and current head coach Larry Krystkowiak now in charge, Loveridge committed to Utah after averaging 22.9 points and 13.1 rebounds per game as a senior.