The Green Bay Phoenix mens basketball program will retire former star player Jeff Nordgaard’s jersey in a ceremony during Green Bay’s game against Belmont on Saturday, December 1st.
The ceremony will take place on Alumni Day in what will be Green Bay’s second game at the Resch Center this season after hosting Northern Illinois this upcoming Wednesday night in the Resch Center-opener.
Photo via Green Bay Athletics
Nordgaard starred with the Phoenix from 1992-1996 and ranks third on Green Bay’s Division I scoring list (4th overall) with 1,911 points behind only Tony Bennett (2,285) and Keifer Sykes (2,096). He is also top five in the program’s D1 history in points per game (third, 15.9), field goals made (second, 773) and attempted (third, 1,390), and rebounds (fifth, 701).
He led Green Bay in both scoring and rebounding in each of his final three seasons and was a three-time All-Conference first team selection. He was named Honorable Mention All-America and the Horizon League Player of the Year as a senior in 1996 while leading Green Bay to a 25-4 overall record and an the NCAA Tournament at-large bid.
The 6’7” Nordgaard was drafted with the 24th pick of the second round (53rd overall) in the 1996 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks and made his NBA debut on October 31, 1997 in a 103-88 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on opening night. In total, he would appear in 13 NBA games for the Bucks and scored 18 points in 48 minutes of action. He then had a lengthy professional career playing overseas in several different countries across Europe.
Nordgaard was inducted into the Phoenix Hall of Fame in 2009/2010. His number 33 jersey will be just the second mens basketball jersey to be retired in program history joining Tony Bennett’s number 25 in the Resch Center rafters. Nordgaard was in the middle of his junior season at Green Bay when Bennett’s jersey was retired back on February 18, 1995.
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