Greenville's Clay Guillozet leads Oulu, Finland in midseason basketball stats
GREENVILLE – Clay Guillozet took a short Christmas break returning home from Finland where he plays basketball for the Oulu professional basketball team, a first division program in a city of nearly 200,000 residents.
“We have a little mid-season break,” said Guillozet. “Our last game was the 19th and we have a break until our next game January 9th. I am not sure they always get this time to come home for Christmas but they gave me the option and obviously I am a family guy so am taking advantage of it and come back.”
“I was able to see a high school game so it was really neat and getting in the gym seeing friends, family and people who are big supporters of me and people who have always helped me along the way,” Guillozet added. “It’s nice to get back and see them.”
The Greenville Senior High School alum and Valdosta State University graduate leads Oulu in scoring with a 28.1 point per game average, leads in playing time at 37.6 minutes per game, leads the team with 3.9 assists per contest, leads in steals with 2.4 per game, at 6’4” is second in rebounds pulling down 9.9 boards per game and is third in blocked shots.
“It is just staying dedicated, never being satisfied,” Guillozet said of his team leading stats. “I am very thankful and blessed to be where I’m at but I know there is always more work to be done. I know I am always able to make myself better each and every year.”
“This summer I’ll be really focusing on my craft and keeping up with what I am doing well but also expanding what I can do on the court so when I play in these higher leagues I have more versatility in what I can do,” he added.
Oulu won just one game last year but currently stand at 7-3 on the 2021-22 season giving Guillozet reason to give his teammates credit for the turnaround.
“We get along really well,” Guillozet stated. “There are two other Americans and me – and then the local guys. I am just trying to be a veteran with a little bit of leadership knowledge for the game, teach some of the younger guys. We have a few older veterans – local guys that do a good job helping us so everything is going well.”
Guillozet capped an outstanding three-year career for VSU where was named Gulf South Conference Player of the Year and earned the prestigious Commissioner’s Trophy; the highest honor the Gulf South Conference (GSC) awards before signing to play his first professional season (2020-2021) in Luxembourg, Germany prior to the current season where his agent moved him up to a higher level of competition.
“I played at a really high level in college so as far as size and skill it is very similar,” Guillozet said of playing for Oulu. “It’s more about the European style of basketball, a few different rule changes and they let you play a little bit more physically to speed the game up so it’s not so slow. Also the shot clock is 24-seconds instead of 30-seconds so that’s a lot of time when you think about it to get the shot off quicker.”
Guillozet will return to the states following this year’s playoffs bringing Oulu’s season to a late April completion.
“When that time comes I’ll have a little bit of time in the summer to enjoy myself before I get back to work and before I start talking to my agent about jobs for next year,” Guillozet concluded.
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