Shortly before leaving for the Basketball Champions League qualifying tournament, RASTA Vechta have strengthened their roster with Nelson Weidemann and Kihei Clark. Weidemann, a 2024 double winner, and American guard Clark, who won the NCAA championship with the Virginia Cavaliers in 2019, are expected to help RASTA compensate for the injury absences of Lamin Sabally and D\u2019Mitrik Trice. However, given their quality, both players are much more than simply temporary replacements.<\/p>\n
Just over two weeks ago, Nelson Weidemann was part of the roster of the reigning world and European champions, winning the traditional Supercup with the German national team in Hamburg. The 27-year-old will arrive in Vechta on Tuesday. After two years with ratiopharm ulm, the German international has signed a three-month contract with the Lower Saxony club, including an exit clause. For the 2024 German champion and Netto BBL Pokal winner with Bayern Munich, RASTA could ideally represent another stepping stone after his two-year spell in Ulm.<\/p>\n
\u201cRASTA is helping me incredibly, which is why I want to repay this support with full commitment and 100% effort. I want to celebrate as many victories as possible with the fans at the RASTA Dome. And on the road, we want to be as difficult an opponent as possible,\u201d Weidemann said.<\/p>\n
Within head coach Christian Held’s team, the Berlin native already knows Philipp Herkenhoff and Tibor Plei\u00df. \u201cThe fact that I already know Philipp and Tibor will definitely help me connect with the team quickly,\u201d said the versatile guard. Weidemann has also already gained a positive impression of what Vechta has to offer: \u201cI really like the structures in Vechta. The training facilities, the weight room and the athletic trainers provide an ideal environment to improve individually.\u201d<\/p>\n
The club’s sporting leadership is convinced that Nelson Weidemann will raise the quality of RASTA’s roster. Head coach Christian Held said: \u201cNelson has a very high level of quality. He can play virtually every guard position and small forward, and he can have a huge impact both defensively and offensively. We are very happy to now have this national team player on our roster. He can help us a lot already in Bulgaria.\u201d<\/p>\n
RASTA will travel to Bulgaria on Sunday, where they will face Denizli Baskets of Turkey on Tuesday, September 15, at 8 p.m. in the Round of 16 of the BCL qualifying tournament. \u201cThe tournament is important to us and we are taking it very seriously. Therefore, the signing of Nelson is a real stroke of luck,\u201d sporting director Gerrit Kersten-Thiele said.<\/p>\n
Kihei Clark arrived in Vechta late on Monday evening. The Californian guard played last season in Belgium for the Kortrijk Spurs, averaging 12.2 points, 5.1 assists and 1.5 steals in 25 BNXT League games, while playing 22:12 minutes per game. The BNXT League features top teams from the Netherlands and Belgium.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are very happy that we have found someone in Kihei who has already taken very good first steps in Europe and who we are convinced will fit into the team extremely well on a personal level. Kihei can help us enormously, especially in terms of roster depth, because we will have an extremely large number of games almost from day one,\u201d Christian Held said.<\/p>\n
Clark was born and raised in the United States and has Filipino roots. In his first year of college, in 2018-19, the point guard played an important role in Virginia’s NCAA championship campaign. The Cavaliers are now the team of former RASTA prospect Johann Gr\u00fcnloh.<\/p>\n
After college, Kihei Clark played in the NBA G League and Japan’s second division before making the move to Europe. Clark has also signed a three-month contract with Vechta, although his deal does not include an exit clause.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the large number of games ahead of us, it was clear that we had to react following the injury to D\u2019Mitrik Trice. Kihei will provide us with important relief,\u201d Kersten-Thiele said.<\/p>\n
The American himself added: \u201cI am looking forward to meeting the guys, the coaching staff and everyone at the club. I am grateful for the opportunity that has been given to me. I am very excited about the chance to play for a great team. Let’s win as many games as possible while we are together!\u201d<\/p>\n
Date of birth:<\/strong> March 25, 1999 BBL stats 2025\/26:<\/strong> 29 games \/ 19:50 minutes \/ 8.3 points \/ 35.4% 3PT \/ 2.3 rebounds \/ 2.1 assists \/ 1.3 steals \/ 6.5 efficiency rating<\/p>\n Teams:<\/strong> ratiopharm ulm (2024-2026), FC Bayern M\u00fcnchen (2023\/24), NINERS Chemnitz (2021-2023), BG G\u00f6ttingen (2020\/21), BMA365 Bamberg Baskets (2019\/20), FC Bayern M\u00fcnchen II (2016-2019), TS Herzogenaurach (2015\/16), ALBA Berlin (2013-2015)<\/p>\n Date of birth:<\/strong> January 24, 1999 BNXT League stats 2025\/26:<\/strong> 25 games \/ 22:12 minutes \/ 12.2 points \/ 30.5% 3PT \/ 5.1 assists \/ 2.1 rebounds \/ 1.5 steals<\/p>\n Teams:<\/strong> Kortrijk Spurs (2025\/26), Mexico City Capitanes (2024\/25), Kumamoto Volters (2024), Wisconsin Herd (2023\/24), Virginia Cavaliers (2018-2023), Taft Charter High School (2015-2018).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The German club adds national team guard Nelson Weidemann and 2019 NCAA champion Kihei Clark ahead of the Basketball Champions League qualifying tournament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":174,"featured_media":514245,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[245,195],"tags":[],"rumors":[],"typology":[185,15727],"posizionamento":[],"class_list":["post-514246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bbl","category-basketball-champions-league","typology-official","typology-press-release-en"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nNationality:<\/strong> Germany
\nPlace of birth:<\/strong> Berlin
\nHeight:<\/strong> 1.90m
\nWeight:<\/strong> 74kg
\nPosition:<\/strong> Shooting guard
\neasyCredit BBL games:<\/strong> 221
\nNetto BBL Pokal games:<\/strong> 3
\nEuroLeague games:<\/strong> 6
\nEuroCup games:<\/strong> 29
\nNational team appearances:<\/strong> 19<\/p>\nKihei Clark \u2013 Player Profile<\/h2>\n
\nNationality:<\/strong> Philippines\/USA
\nPlace of birth:<\/strong> Tarzana, California
\nHeight:<\/strong> 1.75m
\nWeight:<\/strong> 75kg
\nPosition:<\/strong> Point guard
\nNBA G League games:<\/strong> 23
\nNCAA games:<\/strong> 161<\/p>\n