NBL EXPERIENCE

Nic Pozoglou made his NBL debut with the Illawarra Hawks at 21 years of age. He went scoreless in his first NBL game.

Pozoglou appeared in only four games as a development player with the Hawks, scoring a total of two points. Illawarra would narrowly miss out on making the playoffs the season, finishing in fifth place (12-16).

2018/19
After falling short of making the playoffs by only a few games in 2018, the Hawks saw several key players depart, including Demitrius Conger (to Serbia), Rotnei Clarke (to Greece), Nicholas Kay (to Perth), Delvon Johnson (to Slovakia), and Cody Ellis and Rhys Martin, who both retired. In response, Illawarra made significant roster changes, adding Jordair Jett (via NZNBL), Brian Conklin (via France), David Andersen (via Melbourne), Cedric Jackson (via USA), and rookies Emmett Naar and Daniel Grida. They retained key players AJ Ogilvy, Tim Coenraad, Nic Pozoglou, and team captain Kevin White, aiming to build on their existing core.

Illawarra began the season with a dramatic quadruple-overtime thriller, narrowly losing to Melbourne (122–123). They followed this heartbreaking defeat with a heavy loss to Perth (101–61) but rebounded with a road win against Cairns (104–93). A brief two-game win streak later in October saw the Hawks secure victories against Brisbane (86–78) and Adelaide (120–109), momentarily seeing them sit in fifth place. However, inconsistency plagued the team, and they later endured a four-game losing streak in November, including defeats to Perth (90–81), Sydney (81–90), and Adelaide (104–79). Despite flashes of potential, the Hawks finished with a 12-16 record, missing the playoffs.

Nic Pozoglou had limited opportunities to contribute during the 2018-19 season. Despite being part of the core team, Pozoglou saw action primarily off the bench, playing a modest role throughout the season. He featured in several games but with minimal impact on the stat sheet. His best performances included a 2-point, 2-rebound, 2-assist, and 2-steal game against Brisbane (1 Feb 2019), and a 3-point effort against Adelaide (25 Nov 2018). Though his minutes were limited, Pozoglou made the most of his opportunities when called upon.

Alongside Pozoglou, Illawarra was led offensively by Brian Conklin (14.4 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 2.1 assists), Todd Blanchfield (13.5 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.9 assists), who earned the Hawks’ club MVP award, Jordair Jett (11.8 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 2.8 assists), and AJ Ogilvy (9.4 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks). Despite strong individual performances, the Hawks couldn’t maintain consistency and ultimately missed the playoffs in what was one of the most competitive NBL seasons.

PERTH WILDCATS
2019/20
Pozoglou started the 2019/20 season without a NBL contract, until the Wildcat’s lost Swaka Lo Buluk to a pre-season ankle injury that saw him miss the first 17 games of the season. Pozoglou was signed by the team as an injury replacement.

The addition of Pozoglou coincided with Perth securing their 34th consecutive finals appearance behind a second-place finish (19–9).

In the semifinals, Perth defeated Cairns (2–1) to advance to their 15th NBL Grand Final where thanks to a big games from Cotton (32 points) and Kay (14 points and 6 rebounds) they claimed game one (88–86) in front of 11,647 rabid Kings fans.

As the team’s prepared for game two in Perth, it was decided that the remaining games would all take place with no fans in the building. Without a single fan in the building, the Kings evened the series (1-1) thanks to Jae’Sean Tate (21 points) nailing seven of his nine shots and Andrew Bogut (24 points and 14 rebounds) having one of his best games of the season.

In game three of the grand final series against the Sydney Kings, Kay (30 points, 12 rebounds and 4 assists) delivered a career high scoring effort, including seven three-pointers alongside Cotton (31 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists) to propel Perth to a game three victory (111–96).

Prior to game four, the Sydney Kings chose to withdraw from the series due to uncertainties of the coronavirus and travel restrictions. With multiple Kings players based overseas, many were concerned the restrictions would prevent any return home. After a week spent deliberating, it was decided Perth would be awarded the championship due to holding a 2-1 lead at the time, securing their tenth title.

Pozoglou would not play any playoff games for the Wildcats but would averaged 1.1 points, 1.2 rebounds, and 0.2 assists, aappearing in nine games during the season.

Nic Pozoglou played three seasons in the NBL, playing for both the Illawarra Hawks and the Perth Wildcats. He averaged 1.1 points, 1.1 rebounds, and 0.3 assists in 19 NBL games.

Dan Boyce (833 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.