Vancouver Bandits club has signed power forward Giorgi Bezhanishvili for the club’s upcoming 2023 Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) season at Langley Events Centre (LEC).
The announcement was made Tuesday, March 28.
This summer will be Bezhanishvili’s second CEBL campaign after playing for the Calgary Surge (formerly known as the Guelph Nighthawks) in 2022. He averaged 15 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game on 53.2 per cent shooting from the field over seven regular season games.
“Last season was my first time playing in the CEBL and I was really impressed by the energy of the crowd and support of the fans when I came to Langley Events Centre,” Bezhanishvili said.
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Bandits fans will remember Bezhanishvili’s gritty performance in Guelph’s narrow 90-85 play-in game postseason victory over the Bandits last August. In nearly 27 minutes of action, he was a team-high +13, grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds and added 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting.
Bandits head coach and general manager Kyle Julius describned him as a special kind of player.
“The first time I saw him play I knew he was our kind of guy. Giorgi will have a tremendous opportunity to lead us with his versatility and passion and we can’t wait to get to work with him,” said Julius.
A 6-foot-9 forward from Rustavi,Bezhanishvili recently completed his second NBA G League season, suiting up in 31 games for the Atlanta Hawks’ affiliate, the College Park Skyhawks. He started 11 games and averaged 23.6 minutes, 9.1 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game on 59.3 per cent shooting from field goal range. He erupted for a career-high 30 points on 13-of-18 shooting in a 12-rebound double-double winning performance on Feb. 6 over the Westchester Knicks.
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Bezhanishvili previously played 31 games in 2021-22 for the Denver Nuggets’ G League affiliate, the Grand Rapids Gold.
He played three seasons of NCAA Division I basketball at the University of Illinois from 2018-21 where he averaged 8.2 points and 4.3 rebounds on 50.7 per cent field goal shooting in 95 collegiate games played. In 2018-19, Bezhanishvili ranked fourth in both field goal (54.2) and effective field goal percentages (55.0) in the prestigious Big Ten Conference.
Bandits tip-off the 2023 CEBL campaign on Saturday, May 27 when the club takes on the Winnipeg Sea Bears at Canada Life Centre.
Fans will have their first chance to watch Bezhanishvili and company at home at the LEC on Saturday, June 3 when Vancouver welcomes the Calgary Surge for its first-ever visit. The action starts at 7 p.m.
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