Alihan Demir
Alihan Demir is a Turkish professional basketball player who last played for Merkezefendi Bld. Denizli Basket of the Basketbol Süper Ligi. He played college basketball for the Central [Wyoming College|Central Wyoming Rustlers], Dragons men's basketball|Drexel Dragons] and Minnesota Golden Gophers.
Early life
Demir attended Arı College in his hometown of Ankara and played point guard on the school's basketball team. As a senior, he played for Maliye Milli Piyango, a club team in Ankara.After graduation, Demir moved to the United States and played for West Oaks Academy, a postgraduate program in Orlando, Florida, hoping to elevate his profile and earn a college scholarship. However, he received zero NCAA Division I offers and enrolled at Central Wyoming College in Riverton, Wyoming.
College career
Central Wyoming
As a freshman at Central Wyoming College, Demir averaged 13.6 points and 7.3 rebounds while starting 28 of 29 games. He led the Rustlers to the NJCAA Region IX tournament quarterfinals and earned third-team Region IX honors. Demir later said that being in Wyoming helped him focus on basketball and school.Drexel
In 2017, Demir signed a National Letter of Intent to play at Drexel University in Philadelphia. He missed the first five games of the season for the Dragons due to participating in an unsanctioned summer league, but recorded five points and eight rebounds in his debut against NJIT on November 25. Injuries quickly reduced the Drexel roster to seven scholarship players, and Demir received his first start against La Salle on December 7, contributing five points, five assists, and three rebounds in the 72–70 victory. He remained a starter for the rest of the season. On December 16, he scored a game-high 16 points in a 63–60 loss to crosstown rivals Temple. On January 5, 2018, Demir recorded a season-high 20 points in a 87–82 overtime victory over the College of Charleston. On February 8, he recorded 18 points and eight rebounds in a 94–92 overtime loss to Towson. As a sophomore, Demir averaged 10.7 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 31.3 minutes per game.Coming into his junior season, Demir added weight to his frame to better manage the toll of a Division I schedule. On November 17, he scored 21 points, including 14 consecutive points during a second-half stretch, in an 89–84 win over La Salle. On November 28, Demir posted 18 points and 14 rebounds, both game-highs, in a 70–67 defeat to NJIT. It was his first double-double for Drexel. On December 5, Demir recorded a then career-high 24 points in a 95–86 victory over Loyola Marymount. He bested this mark two games later against Quinnipiac, coming off the bench to score 26 points on 11-of-15 shooting to lead the Dragons to a 92–83 win. On January 10, 2019, Demir contributed 20 points in a 79–78 victory over the College of Charleston. On January 17, he recorded his fifth double-double of the season with 22 points and a career-high 16 rebounds in a 72–66 win over Towson. On February 7, Demir posted a game-high 20 points and eight rebounds in a 69–57 victory against UNC Wilmington. In the following game, a 71–69 loss to James Madison, he scored a game-high 23 points, including 15 in the second half. On February 28, Demir recorded 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting in an 80–77 loss to Hofstra. As a junior, he averaged 14.8 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 2.9 assists in 30.3 minutes per game, earning third-team All-CAA honors. He was second on the team in both scoring and rebounding.
In April 2019, Demir entered his name into the NCAA transfer portal as a graduate transfer. On May 3, he committed to transfer to the University of Minnesota, choosing the Golden Gophers after having also taken a visit to Kansas State. He ran the decision by Vincent Grier, a Minnesota alum who had been Demir's teammate and mentor in Turkey seven years prior.
Minnesota
Coming into his senior year at Minnesota, Demir looked to fill in the gap left at power forward by outgoing senior Jordan Murphy, who graduated as the second-leading rebounder in Big Ten Conference history. Head coach Richard Pitino said that he expected Demir to make "an immediate impact" considering "his skill, size and versatility." He was immediately thrust into the starting lineup after redshirt junior Eric Curry suffered a torn ACL before the season. In his exhibition debut on August 6, 2019, Demir scored 15 points on 7-for-11 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds in an 84–79 win over Italian team Stella Azzurra. On November 5, he scored 10 points in Minnesota's season opener, an 85–50 blowout win over Cleveland State. However, he averaged just 4.8 points on 29.6 percent shooting over the next four games. Following this stretch where he struggled to find his role offensively, Demir began "quietly playing terrific basketball," as put by Pitino.On November 29, Demir posted a then season-high 14 points and six rebounds in a 73–68 loss to DePaul. He recorded 13 points and five rebounds in their Big Ten Conference opener, a 72–52 loss to Iowa on December 9. On January 5, 2020, Demir put up 11 points and nine rebounds in a 77–68 win over Northwestern. On January 9, he recorded 10 points, eight rebounds and three blocks in a 74–58 loss to top-ten-ranked Michigan State. Demir added 13 points, all in the second half, and five rebounds in their next game, a 75–67 win over Michigan on January 12. He did not score in double figures again until senior day on March 8, when he posted a season-high 19 points and 10 rebounds in a 107–75 victory over Nebraska. It was Demir's first double-double as a Golden Gopher. On March 11, he scored seven consecutive second-half points to jumpstart a comeback against Northwestern in the first round of the 2020 Big Ten Conference tournament, winning the game 74–57. This would be Demir's final game for Minnesota, however, as the remainder of the tournament was cancelled the next day due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a senior, Demir averaged 7.1 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 24.8 minutes per game.