Ian Vougioukas (alternate spelling: Ian Vouyoukas) (Greek: Ίαν Βουγιούκας; born May 31, 1985) is a Greek former professional basketball player. Standing at 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in), he plays at the center position. He played college basketball in the United States, for Saint Louis University.
Early life and career
Vougioukas, who was born in London, England,[1] started playing basketball in his native country of Greece, with the youth clubs of Aris Glyfadas, Kronos, and Ilysiakos. He then moved to the United States, to play college basketball. He stayed in the U.S. until the end of the 2006–07 season.
College career
While playing NCAA Division Icollege basketball with the Saint Louis Billikens, Vougioukas was named First-Team All-Atlantic 10 Conference and was ranked 14th in the A-10 in scoring, at 13.9 points per game, and sixth in rebounding, at 7.4 rebounds per game. One of his college highlights was a game-high 28 point performance, in a 65–64 double-overtime loss to Dayton, on March 3, 2007.[2] In the same game, he also grabbed 11 rebounds.[3]
Professional career
After college, Vougioukas signed a three-year contract with the Greek EuroLeague club Olympiacos Piraeus. He was loaned to Rethymno, and he played with the squad during the 2007–08 season.[4] In 2008, he returned to Olympiacos.[5]
Vougioukas was loaned again, this time to Greek club Panellinios, for the 2009–10 season. In 2010, he signed with Greek club Panathinaikos,[6] to a 2-year €1,620,000 eurosgross income (€900,000 net income) contract. With Panathinaikos, Vougioukas won the EuroLeague and Greek League championships in 2011. He also won the Greek Cup title with Panathinaikos, in 2012.
On 8 September 2015, Vougioukas signed a one-year deal with the Lithuanian League club Žalgiris Kaunas.[12] On 17 August 2016, Vougioukas signed a 1+1 deal with the Russian club Lokomotiv Kuban.[13] On July 1, 2017, Lokomotiv officially opted out of their deal with Vougioukas.[14]
On July 4, 2017, Vougioukas returned to his former team, Panathinaikos, signing a 1+1 deal with them.[15] He was later named the team's captain for a brief stint, due to a suspension of Nick Calathes. On August 1, 2019, Vougioukas renewed his contract with Panathinaikos, once again signing a 1+1 deal.[16] On July 16, 2020, Vougioukas and the Greens officially parted ways.[17] However, he was reinstated to the team on September 19 of the same year.[18]