Thomas Welsh (basketball)

For other people named Thomas Welsh, see Thomas Welsh (disambiguation).
Thomas Welsh

No. 40 – UCLA Bruins
Position Center
League Pac-12 Conference
Personal information
Born (1996-02-03) February 3, 1996
Torrance, California
Nationality American
Listed height 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)
Listed weight 245 lb (111 kg)
Career information
High school Loyola (Los Angeles, California)
College UCLA (2014–present)
Career highlights and awards
Medals
Men's basketball
Representing the  United States
FIBA U19 World Championship
2015 Greece National team

Thomas Clark Welsh (born February 3, 1996) is an American college basketball player for the UCLA Bruins. He was a McDonald's All-American in high school. After his freshman year at UCLA, he was a member of the United States national team that won the gold medal at the FIBA Under-19 World Championship in 2015.

Early life

Welsh was born in Torrance, California, in Los Angeles County to Pat and Kathy Welsh.[1] At age five, he started playing basketball.[2] He attended Loyola High School in Los Angeles.[3] As a 6-foot-5-inch (1.96 m) freshman,[4] Welsh played basketball on the junior varsity team, where he was ranked eighth on the team's depth chart.[3] He was promoted to the varsity team as a sophomore, moving up the depth chart to seventh.[3] He did not become a starter until his junior year,[5] by which time he had grown to 7 feet (2.1 m).[6] Still, he was only considered a prospect for mid-major colleges at the time, or perhaps a redshirt at a Pac-12 Conference school.[7]

The following summer, Welsh performed well with the Los Angeles Rockfish, the longest ongoing high-school all-star program in Southern California.[8] He emerged as one of the top centers in California as a senior, and was selected for the 2014 McDonald's All-American Game,[5] a rarity for a player who did not receive national recognition as a junior.[9] He was rated as a four-star (on a scale of five) recruit.[10]

College career

In November 2014, Welsh committed to play at UCLA over fellow Pac-12 schools California and Stanford.[11][12] As a freshman with the Bruins in 2014–15, he spent most of the season as a backup to junior Tony Parker.[13] Welsh played in all 36 games, starting in three, and averaged 3.8 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. He led the team in blocks, averaging 1.1 per game as a reserve.[14] He became the Bruins' first 7-foot player since Ryan Hollins in 2005–06.[15] In the season opener against Montana State, Welsh scored 14 points in 13 minutes of play.[16] He had six rebounds and four blocked shots in 22 minutes in an upset victory over SMU in UCLA's opening game of the 2015 NCAA Tournament. Playing the final minutes of the game in place of Parker, he made a key block with 34 seconds remaining and UCLA down by four.[4][17][18]

Having played on the U.S. under-19 national team over the summer, Welsh's footwork and fundamentals improved.[10] With Kevon Looney having moved on to the National Basketball Association (NBA), he was promoted to UCLA's starting lineup at center, while Parker moved to forward.[19][20] In the 2015–16 season opener, Welsh had his first collegiate double-double with 12 points and career-highs of 10 rebounds and five blocks in an 84–81 overtime loss to Monmouth. The blocks were the most by a Bruin since Travis Wear's five in 2012.[21] In the following game, Welsh scored a career-high 22 on 10-for-12 shooting in an 88–83 win over Cal Poly.[22] On December 3 against No. 1 Kentucky, he registered game highs of 21 points and 11 rebounds and outplayed highly-touted Wildcats freshman Skal Labissiere in an 87–77 upset win, the Bruins first victory since 2003 over a No. 1 ranked team.[23][24] On January 9, 2016, he had a career-high 16 rebounds in an 81–74 win over Arizona State,[25] which helped UCLA avoid falling to 1–3 in the Pac-12 for the first time in almost 20 years.[26] After UCLA lost three of four games in mid-February, Welsh became a reserve after he offered to coaches that Parker could take his place in the starting lineup; the senior Parker had been benched in favor of a quicker Jonah Bolden.[27] The Bruins lost their final five games to finish with a 15–17 record.[28] Welsh ended the season with an 11.2 scoring average, and led UCLA in field goal percentage (59.0), rebounding (8.5) and blocked shots (1.0). He ranked seventh in the Pac-12 in rebounding, second in offensive rebounds per game (3.2), and third in field goal percentage.[1]

National team career

Welsh tried out for the United States national team in the 2014 FIBA Americas Under-18 Championship, but was one of the final three roster cuts.[29] The following year after his first season with UCLA, he was one of 12 players selected by the U.S. to play at the 2015 FIBA Under-19 World Championship in Greece.[14][30] He was not considered a top contender when tryouts began, but he made an impression with his rebounding and perimeter play.[31] The Americans won the gold medal after a 79–71 win over Croatia.[32] Welsh played in all seven games, averaging 2.7 points and 3.3 rebounds in 8.9 minutes.[33]

References

  1. 1 2 "Thomas Welsh Bio". UCLABruins.com. Retrieved July 9, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Thomas Welsh". USA Basketball. Archived from the original on July 10, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 Haylock, Rahshaun (February 4, 2014). "Loyola's Thomas Welsh unlikeliest of McDonald's All-Americans". FoxSports.com. Archived from the original on July 9, 2015.
  4. 1 2 Whicker, Mark (March 20, 2015). "UCLA's 7-footer, freshman Thomas Welsh, is helping provide a bench presence". Los Angeles Daily News. Archived from the original on July 9, 2015.
  5. 1 2 Sondheimer, Eric (January 31, 2014). "Thomas Welsh sparks Loyola's victory over Chaminade". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on July 9, 2015.
  6. ↑ Sondheimer, Eric (October 9, 2012). "Loyola Officially Has Its First 7-footer In Thomas Welsh". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on July 10, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Welsh impresses at Under Armour HC". 247 Sports. January 2, 2014. Archived from the original on July 10, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Redondo Beach basketball standout Thomas Welsh selected to play in McDonald's All-Star game". Easy Reader News. February 18, 2014. Archived from the original on August 31, 2015.
  9. ↑ Sondheimer, Eric (January 29, 2014). "Boys' basketball: Stanley Johnson, Thomas Welsh make McDonald's Game". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on July 9, 2015.
  10. 1 2 Helfand, Zach (December 4, 2015). "7-footer Thomas Welsh's emergence gave UCLA the edge in revenge victory over Kentucky". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on December 7, 2015.
  11. ↑ Kartje, Ryan (November 20, 2013). "Four-star Welsh becomes third big man in 2014 class". Orange County Register. Archived from the original on July 9, 2015.
  12. ↑ Dauster, Rob (November 20, 2013). "UCLA picks up a commitment from top 60 big man Thomas Welsh". NBCSports.com. Archived from the original on July 9, 2015.
  13. ↑ Wang, Jack (November 3, 2015). "Versatility could allow UCLA to highlight big men". Los Angeles Daily News. Archived from the original on November 11, 2015.
  14. 1 2 Kaufman, Joey (June 17, 2015). "UCLA basketball: Thomas Welsh makes U19 USA Basketball team". Orange County Register. Archived from the original on July 9, 2015.
  15. ↑ Brown, C. L. (November 14, 2014). "68 things to watch this season". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on July 9, 2014.
  16. ↑ Helfand, Zach (November 15, 2014). "At 7 feet, UCLA's Thomas Welsh may be a factor against Chanticleers". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on July 9, 2015.
  17. ↑ Wang, Jack (June 2, 2015). "Center Thomas Welsh picked for USA Basketball U19 training camp". Inside UCLA. Archived from the original on July 9, 2015.
  18. ↑ Kartje, Ryan (March 21, 2015). "UCLA on verge of a Sweet spot going into rematch with UAB". Orange County Register. Archived from the original on July 10, 2015.
  19. ↑ Kaufmann, Joey (November 12, 2015). "UCLA basketball preview: It's Thomas Welsh's turn to be center of attention". The Orange County Register. Archived from the original on November 16, 2015.
  20. ↑ Kaufman, Joey (November 18, 2015). "UCLA basketball: Freshman guard Aaron Holiday proves a quick study". The Orange County Register. Archived from the original on December 9, 2015.
  21. ↑ "Cal Poly Mustangs (0-1) at UCLA Bruins (0-1)" (PDF). UCLA Athletic Communications. November 13, 2015. Archived from the original on November 16, 2015.
  22. ↑ Helfand, Zach (November 15, 2015). "UCLA manages to beat Cal Poly, 88-83". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 16, 2015.
  23. ↑ Helfand, Zach (December 3, 2015). "UCLA gets revenge on No. 1 Kentucky with 87-77 win at Pauley Pavilion". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on December 4, 2015.
  24. ↑ Whicker, Mark (December 3, 2015). "UCLA big man Thomas Welsh keys big victory over No. 1 Kentucky". Los Angeles Daily News. Archived from the original on December 4, 2015.
  25. ↑ "Holiday's 3-pointer sends UCLA past Arizona State, 81-74". AP. January 9, 2016. Archived from the original on January 11, 2016.
  26. ↑ Kaufman, Joey (January 9, 2016). "Holiday's 3-pointer helps UCLA rally to beat Arizona State, 81-74". The Orange County Register. Archived from the original on January 11, 2016.
  27. ↑ Helfand, Zach (February 21, 2016). "Tony Parker returns to UCLA's starting lineup and the result is positive". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on June 19, 2016.
  28. ↑ Li, Derek (March 15, 2016). "Tony Parker looks toward future after frustrating senior season". The Daily Bruin. Archived from the original on June 19, 2016.
  29. ↑ Zagoria, Adam (June 15, 2014). "USA U18 Team Finalizes Roster as it Cuts to 12". Zagsblog. Archived from the original on July 13, 2015.
  30. ↑ "Ultimate Honor At Stake For 21 Players At USA Men's U19 Training Camp". usab.com. June 13, 2015. Archived from the original on July 13, 2015.
  31. ↑ Sondhmeier, Eric (June 17, 2015). "Boys' basketball: Former Loyola standout Thomas Welsh makes USA U19 team". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on July 10, 2015.
  32. ↑ Sondheimer, Eric (July 5, 2015). "Boys' basketball: Thomas Welsh is coming home with gold medal". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on July 10, 2015.
  33. ↑ "USA Combined Team Statistics (as of Jul 05, 2015)". usab.com. Archived from the original on July 13, 2015.
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