Jurica Žuža

Jurica Žuža (born April 4, 1978) is a Croatian basketball coach and former basketball player serving as assistant coach for Lokomotiv Kuban of the VTB United League.

Jurica Žuža

Žuža with Lietkabelis in 2015
PBC Lokomotiv Kuban
Position	Assistant coach
League	VTB United League
Personal information
Born	(1978-04-04) 4 April 1978 (age 46) Podgradina near Zadar, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia
Nationality	Croatian
Listed height	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)
Career information
NBA draft	2000: undrafted
Playing career	1996–2016
Position	Center
Career history
As player:
1996–1998	Zadar
1998–1999	Svjetlost Brod
1999–2000	Zadar
2000–2001	Šanac Karlovac
2001–2002	Iraklio
2002–2003	Panathinaikos
2003–2004	Ionikos
2004–2005	Crabs Rimini
2005–2007	Cibona
2007	Rethymno
2007–2008	Cedevita
2008–2009	Poltava
2009–2011	Kryvbasbasket
2011	Zadar
2011–2012	Tofaş
2012–2013	Trabzonspor
2013–2014	Al Rayan
2014–2016	Lietkabelis Panevėžys
As coach:
2016–2017	Lietkabelis Panevėžys (assistant)
2017–2020	Neptūnas Klaipėda (assistant)
2020	Neptūnas Klaipėda
2021–2022	Nymburk (assistant)
2022–present	Lokomotiv Kuban (assistant)
Career highlights and awards
Greek League champion (2003) 2× Croatian League champion (2006, 2007) Turkish Second League champion (2013) 2× Croatian Cup winner (1998, 2000) Greek Cup winner (2003) Croatian League rebound leader (2001)
Medals Men’s basketball Representing  Croatia European U-18 Championship 1996 France Under-18

Professional career

Žuža started his professional career at Zadar under coach Danijel Jusup. After two years spent in the club and winning the 1998 Croatian Cup (first trophy for Zadar in independent Croatia), he played in Svjetlost Brod and then again in Zadar winning another Cup in 2000. After spending a season in Šanac Karlovac Žuža moved abroad to the Greek Iraklio. After that he spent a season in Panathinaikos coached by Željko Obradović during which he won the Greek League and Cup. He later spent a season in the Greek Ionikos and Italian Crabs Rimini before playing two and a half seasons for Cibona during which he became the Croatian League champion twice. After playing for the Greek Rethymno, Croatian Cedevita,^[1] Polish Poltava and Ukrainian Kryvbasbasket, during the 2010–11 season Žuža shortly again played for Zadar. Then he went to the Turkish Tofaş from Bursa and then to Trabzonspor, with whom he won the Turkish Second League. From there Žuža went to the Qatari Al Rayan, and in 2014 he made his final transfer to Lietkabelis where he played the last two seasons of his professional career. In the last season of his 20-year professional playing career Žuža helped his club win third place in the 2015–16 Baltic League.^[2]

Coaching career

He began his coaching career as assistant coach for Lietkabelis, the same club he finished his playing career. Lietkabelis achieved its best result in history, finishing as runners-up in the 2016–17 Lithuanian League. The next season he was assistant coach for Neptūnas who came third in the 2017–18 Lithuanian League.^[3][4]

On July 20, 2022, he signed with Lokomotiv Kuban of the VTB United League.^[5]

References

1. "Jurica Žuža u Cedeviti" (in Croatian). 057info.hr. 29 December 2017. Retrieved 17 November 2018.
2. "Jurica Žuža nakon 20 godina završio karijeru" (in Croatian). zadarskilist.hr. 5 May 2016. Retrieved 17 November 2018.
3. "Jurica Žuža-košarkaško dijete rata" (in Croatian). basketball.hr. 23 May 2017. Retrieved 17 November 2018.
4. "Biti treći u zemlji košarke - za to se treba boriti, to je čast!" (in Croatian). basketball.hr. 13 July 2018. Retrieved 17 November 2018.
5. "Lokomotiv-Kuban was headed by the reigning European champion, head coach of one of the best national teams in the world". Sportando. December 1, 2022. Retrieved December 1, 2022.

External links

• Euroleague Profile
• RealGM Profile
• fiba.com Profile