Meet the ‘Japanese Steph Curry’ hyping up crowds in Nebraska
By Bryan Ke
A Japanese college basketball player’s phenomenal performance on the court has some observers referring to him as the “Japanese Steph Curry.”
Keisei Tominaga, a 22-year-old junior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has had a good start to the 2022-2023 season of the Big Ten Conference of NCAA Division I.
Tominaga is averaging 11.6 points this season, making 49.5% of his field goals and 39.8% of his three-point shots. The stats are an improvement from last season, in which he had a 5.7 points per game average on 37.3% field goal shooting and 33% three-point shooting.
Besides his stats, Tominaga is known to draw in fans with his court presence, hyping up the crowd and his teammates during breaks and whenever he scores.
Speaking to the Associated Press, coach Fred Hoiberg said that whenever there was a timeout in one of their games, Tominaga would run to the end of the court and prompt the crowd to make more noise before joining his team. He does this especially when he is feeling hot, Hoiberg noted.
It is infectious. You see that when he hits those shots, when he gets to the end of the lane and hits those circus shots, you see the bench go crazy for him, you see his teammates out on the floor. It’s just fun to have a guy play with that much passion and energy.
Although noting that he is not comparing Tominaga to Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry, Big Ten Network analyst Robbie Hummel noted the Nebraska Cornhusker’s ability to keep his momentum after making a shot.
This is not comparing him to Steph Curry, but he has a little bit of that factor where if he makes one, he could make the next four because he’s that type of shooter. The main thing that sticks out with Keisei Tominaga is he has gotten so much better as a player. He’s not just a shooter, he’s a scorer. He’s an unbelievable cutter, he’s got a good pull-up off the bounce, he’s been good off handoffs.
Born in Moriyama Ward in Nagoya, Japan, on Feb. 1, 2001, Tominaga is the son of former Japanese basketball player Hiroyuki Tominaga, who played center on the Japan national team during the 1998 FIBA World Championship.
Growing up around basketball, Tominaga participated in several events in Japan when he was young, including the nation’s 16-U and 18-U national teams. He was also the youngest player in the three-on-three tournament at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Tominaga also played for Japan as a representative for the Senior National Team for the first time last summer. He reportedly played seven games under his country’s flag, including in two FIBA World Cup qualifiers.
After gaining fame in Japan, Tominaga shifted his focus to the United States, a dream he saw the possibility of accomplishing after being inspired by current Los Angeles Lakers player Rui Hachimura.
Tominaga first played for Ranger College in Texas before moving to Nebraska, where he is a human development and family science major.
Commenting about his fame in the U.S. in comparison to Japan, Tominaga told AP that walking around town in Japan would elicit attention from his fans as they know him, but not as much after coming to Nebraska.
“Yes, some people know me,” he told AP. “Not as much as in Japan.”
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