Former VCU guard Korey Billbury signs with Italian Euroleague team
Senior Korey Billbury converts an emphatic slam during VCU's 96-60 exhibition win against California University of Pennsylvania on Friday night. The senior transfer recorded 10 points an 11 rebounds in the contest. Photo by Brooke Marsh.
Former VCU guard Korey Billbury will begin his professional basketball career overseas in 2016-17 with Italian club Unione Sportiva Basket Recanati after signing on Sunday.
Billbury, a Tulsa, Oklahoma native transferred to VCU from Oral Roberts prior to last season. He was the Rams’ third-leading scorer at 11.2 points per game, shot nearly 40 percent from behind the 3-point line and averaged 4.9 rebounds per game. The 6-foot-4-inch guard appeared in 36 games for the Rams, averaging 28 minutes a game.
https://twitter.com/THREEpoint5/status/752509727137869824
Billbury said he will carry Rams’ head coach Will Wade’s mentality and blue-collar-player work ethic with him moving forward.
“I was always pretty much the best on whichever team I was with, coming here (to VCU) I had to work hard to stay good and be good,” Billbury said. “He taught me how to really work hard.”
Billbury said he is excited to play for first-year head coach Marco Calvani because of the similarities in coaching style he shares with Wade.
“He wants to run and gun,” Billbury said. “He wants to play fast and work really hard. The fact he wants to get after it and play sharp is what really impressed me.”
According to Billbury, Calvani told him the team would have anywhere from two to four practices a day and that he liked Billbury’s versatility in shooting and attacking the rim.
“Korey is a player who has had significant experience at the college level having played in a very competitive conference like the Atlantic 10 where he had the chance to compete at the highest levels by playing against a selection of players of the highest level,” Calvani said in a team press release.
Recanati plays in Italy’s Serie A2 league. The program finished 8-22 in 2015-16.
Billbury is the 24th VCU Men’s Basketball player to sign a professional contract since the end of the 2003-04 season.
“I am excited to begin my pro career in a beautiful country like Italy,” Billbury said in a team press release, “I’ve heard great things about Recanati and its people. I am grateful for the opportunity.”
Sports Editor, Sophia Belletti
Sophia is a junior print/online journalism major with a minor in gender, sexuality and women’s studies. She enjoys writing about current events and sports and hopes to one day be a sports reporter, covering soccer, basketball and baseball. You can usually find Sophia drinking way too much coffee and laughing at her own jokes. // Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn
bellettisr@commonwealthtimes.org
