He's 6'11 and a George School freshman from China. He's living his American hoops dreams
NEWTOWN — It's hard to believe Ziyi Xiong has only been in the United States for five months.
While having his photo taken in George School head coach Ben Luber's office Wednesday afternoon, Ziyi wondered, "How's my hair look?"
A native of Xiaogan, China, Ziyi has no issue communicating with his teammates and Luber on the court during Cougars' boys basketball games and practices — and not much trouble in interviews.
"I'll tell you what, he understands my coaching just as well or better than anybody on the team, which is surprising," Luber said. "But he pays attention, he makes great eye contact and asks questions when he doesn't understand something. 'Z' understands what you're saying. He can read it. He can write it."
"His English is so much better," said senior guard Ivan Ryabov. "When he came, he couldn't say a word (of English). Now he's already having dialogues and telling us stories. He's progressing like crazy."
That's also the case with basketball.
Ziyi moved into the Cougars' starting lineup more than a month ago when junior forward Kurt Bevilacqua, a second-team all-state selection (non-PIAA) last season, was sidelined with a stress reaction in his back. Ziyi hit three 3-pointers and finished with 16 points, 6 rebounds and 3 blocks in a one-sided win over Barrack Hebrew and added 12 points and 9 rebounds in a 69-41 victory against Shipley. He's playing roughly 15 minutes per game.
Ziyi believes his biggest strength on the court is "using my basketball IQ to find wide-open shots and rebound."
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Though he was a center in China, Luber has been using Ziyi as a combination forward due to Ziyi's ability to handle the ball, move well for a 6-foot-11 guy and shoot it. Ziyi really admires Phelps School star Will Riley, who is a 6-9 point guard, though Luber views Ziyi as a wing.
Ryabov has helped with the 16-year-old Ziyi's transition to American life as a big brother figure after going through a similar period when he arrived here from St. Petersburg, Russia.
"I remember being in the same exact position as 'Z' — coming to the U.S. not knowing anyone," Ryabov said. "It was very hard to make friends, communicate with my teachers, coaches. Now with 'Z,' we all really try and take care of him and stuff. He's a nice guy."
Ziyi genuinely likes his teammates and the feeling is mutual. A bunch of them wanted to know what questions he was asked — entirely in English — following his interview.
"They root for him," Luber said. "They want to see him have success because I think they see how hard he works. He cheers on the other guys on the team — he's the best teammate."
"They are very good, very friendly (and) always looking after me," Ziyi said.
While Ziyi has gone from 182 to 200 pounds since arriving on campus last Aug. 21, Luber would like Ziyi to get stronger and continue to upgrade his rebounding, footwork and inside scoring. Ziyi's work ethic and love of the game give Luber reason to be quite encouraged.
"He's a special talent, he means business, he plays to win (and) loves the game and hates to lose," Luber said. "It's really evident. … He doesn't think there's some magic formula where he's all of a sudden going to be good (and realizes) he's got a long ways to go. To be that aware at that age is pretty impressive."
Luber first became aware of Ziyi after the Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation, which is named for the Brooklyn Nets owner and his wife, endowed a scholarship to Ziyi as one of the promising young Chinese basketball players. He watched film of Ziyi, they met via Zoom and Ziyi ended up enrolling in late August.
Luber and Ziyi trained together over the Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks while Ziyi lived with the Lubers, which strengthened their bond.
"You could tell he spent a lot of time on his skills when he was in China before he came here," Luber said.
An only child, Ziyi likes to play video games and try food from different cultures. He's become especially fond of Japanese sushi.
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He's trying to "just do my best to help this team" after George School captured the Friends School League title last season for its first championship in 52 years. The Cougars fell to Friends Select 69-64 in the opening round of the FSL playoffs Friday.
George School (9-10) has turned over considerably after three of their top four players from 2022-23 — Kachi Nzeh (Xavier), Christian Bliss (Virginia) and Dante Weise (College of Saint Rose) — moved on to college ball. The primary additions were senior transfer Tristen Guillouette, highly regarded freshman Tyler Sutton and Ziyi.
Ziyi plans to keep working to do whatever he can for the Cougars to succeed while his game evolves.
"I don't think people realize how good of a shooter he is," Ryabov said. "We practice with him and we see his jump shot is good. He hasn't really shown it in games. I think by his junior year, when all those pieces are put together, he's going to be a player to watch."
Tom Moore: tmoore@couriertimes.com; @TomMoorePhilly
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: George School's Ziyi Xiong making strides since arriving from China
