NICKNAME/S: Chewy

BIO: Ayinde Ubaka was born in San Francisco, California (USA) and attended Oakland High School in Oakland, California.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Ayinde Ubaka made his NBL debut with the Gold Coast Blaze at 24 years of age. He scored 19 points in his first game.

First brought to Australia to play for new Adelaide 36ers coach Joey Wright at Gold Coast Blaze in 2009/10. Ubaka averaged 16.3 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 4.2 assists as the Blaze finished with a record of 16-12 and in third place during the regular season.

Ubaka was selected in the NBL All-Star Five Second Team.

2010/11
Ubaka averaged 13.9 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 4 assists as well as being named the Taipans club MVP after guiding Cairns to a fourth place finish in the regular season.

The 2010/11 season saw the Cairns Taipans create history as they finished the regular season in third place with a 16–12 record and advanced through to the 2011 NBL Grand Final series, reaching the championship deciding round for the first time behind star trio Ron Dorsey, Ayinde Ubaka and Daniel Dillon.

Cairns eliminated Townsville in the semifinals (2-1) to reach the NBL Grand Final where they faced the New Zealand Breakers.

After being thrashed in the series opener in Auckland, going down 85–67, the Taipans responded in game two at home. They notched up a nail-biting 85–81 double-overtime win against the Breakers to send the series into a decider. It marked the first time in NBL history a play-off match was decided in double overtime. Cairns had looked set for a three-point win in normal time before a three-pointer from Breakers guard CJ Bruton in the dying seconds sent the match into overtime. However, revenge came five minutes later when Dorsey wiped out the Breakers’ three-point lead with no time to spare to force the match into double overtime. With momentum on their side, the Taipans were able to finish out the match on top. Dorsey’s miraculous long three-pointer to send the game into double overtime has a special place in the club’s history.

The Breakers went on to win the 2010/11 NBL Championship with a 71–53 win in the decisive game three in Auckland. The Taipans lacked the same spark In game three, with import pair Ubaka and Dorsey shooting 4-of-26 between them.

Despite ultimately losing the series, Dorsey’s heroics in game two went down in Taipans folklore.

2011/12
With the NBA going through a lock-out season during the 2011/12 NBL season, the Melbourne Tigers signed NBA free agent and Australian Boomers player Patrick Mills who became the first ‘active’ NBA player to compete in the NBL.

Mills was a late signing for the club who had already filled their roster, which included signing Ayinde Ubaka, Ron Dorsey and Daniel Dillon from Cairns and gutting the Taipans Roster. In order to make room for Mills, the team was forced to release long-time guard Daryl Corletto, who later signed with New Zealand. Mills then played the first nine games of the season (averaging 18.6 points, 2.3 rebounds and 5 assists) before leaving to play in China on a much larger contract. Mills was replaced with import Myron Allen (9.9 points, 5.9 rebounds and 6.2 assists).

The remainder of the season could be described as tumultuous at best. The peak of this was highlighted by majority owner Seamus McPeake storming into the Tigers’ locker room and unleashing a tirade on the players before firing Ubaka on the spot following Melbourne’s loss to Gold Coast (73-60) at the State Netball and Hockey Centre. Ubaka’s sacking occurred without coach Trevor Gleeson being aware, as both he and captain Tommy Greer were participating in a post-game press conference. Ubaka’s sacking would contravene one of the key agreements of Gleeson’s hiring that he have final say on all player movements.

Ubaka, who averaged 12.0 points, 2.4 rebounds and 3.3 assists during his 18 games with Melbourne, was immediately snapped up by Wollongong, where he saw out the rest of the season as the Tigers finished in sixth place during the regular season with a 11-17 record. Ubaka would average 12 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 3.3 assists as the Tigers failed to make the playoffs for the third year in a row.

Additionally, Tommy Greer would be named team captain this season while Cam Tragardh finished the year as Melbourne’s leading scorer (16.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.4 assists) and earned the Tigers club MVP.

2013/14
After playing 18 games with Melbourne before being sensationally sacked by former Tigers owner Seamus McPeake in a locker room confrontation after a shock loss, Ubaka returned to play for theTigers in 2013/14.

Ubaka was a late signing, joining the team days before the Tigers season opener. Ubaka arrived as a replacement for star import Stephen Dennis who injured his Achilles tendon in pre-season training.

The Tigers season also began with club MVP Chris Goulding and captain Tommy Greer both on the injured list as well.

Ubaka struggled to deliver the same production he had in his previous stint in the NBL, putting up 5.3 points, 1.4 rebounds, and 1.7 assists, all career lows. The Tigers were still able to finished the season in third place with a record of 15-13 and went on to face Adelaide in the semifinals.

The 36ers came away victorious in the opening game of the series behind Gary Ervin’s 27 points and 7 assists, winning 101-85.

Game two would then shift to Melbourne where Tigers guard Chris Goulding exploded for 37 points, allowing the Tigers to even the series behind a 98-87 win.

In game three, Adelaide demolished Melbourne with a 102-63 victory, holding them to a 27-point half-time score and winning every quarter by 7 points or more.

Ayinde Ubaka played five seasons across four NBL teams. This included the Gold Coast Blaze, Wollongong Hawks, Cairns Taipans and Melbourne Tigers. He averaged 13.4 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 3.5 assists in 92 NBL games.

Dan Boyce (823 Posts)

Dan Boyce is a die-hard Sydney Kings fan who grew up in Melbourne during the roaring 90's of Australian Basketball and spent far too much time collecting Futera NBL Basketball cards.