High Point University graduate Arizona Reid recently completed his first full season of professional basketball, leading his team in the Finnish basketball league in both scoring (19.0 ppg) and rebounding (7.4 rpg). Reid is among HPU's all-time leaders in every category and is the only player in Big South history with over 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds.
"We had a pretty good season, but I was disappointed with the playoffs," said Reid. "We had some injuries and a lot of that determined how we did this year. Personally, I did some things I wanted to. I averaged 19 points and seven rebounds and it could have been higher depending on the positions I was playing. It was a good season overall, especially since I had an broken foot last year."
Reid's team, Korihait, went 22-22 in the regular season to finish fifth in the Korisliiga, the top professional basketball league in Finland. Korihait advanced to the playoff quarterfinals and won its first game before losing the next two to end the season.
Reid put up numbers reminiscent of his time at High Point University. In addition to averaging 19.0 points and 7.4 rebounds, Reid shot 53.5 percent from the floor and 73.6 percent from the free throw line, had five games with 30 or more points and 13 double-doubles in 47 games.
"I had a great coach who taught me a lot about European basketball. He gets me the ball and it really helped a lot this year," said Reid. "I'm thankful that I had the opportunity I had this year and I continue to thank God for my blessings."
Reid is one of HPU's all-time greats. He is the only player in Big South history with over 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. His 2,069 career points rank second only to Gene Littles (2,398) and his 1,013 rebounds rank fourth all-time. He averaged 17.2 points, 8.4 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.3 steals over his four years. Reid improved ever year, with his best numbers of 23.9 points per game, 11.0 rebounds per game, 2.4 assists and 1.7 steals per game coming in his senior season of 2007-08. He led HPU in both scoring and rebounding in his final three seasons.
Reid's four years from 2004-08 were among HPU's four best since joining Div. I, as the Panthers went 68-55 overall and 34-26 in Big South play, including a Div. I-best mark of 22-10 overall and 11-3 in the Big South in 2006-07. The Panthers advanced to the Big South semifinals every season.
In 2008-09, Reid's first after graduating from HPU, he began the year playing professional basketball in Italy before the foot injury interrupted his season. When he came back, he joined HPU alum Mike Jefferson's team in Switzerland.
After living in the United States all his life, Reid has had to adapt to life on the other side of the Atlantic.
"It's so different, from the lifestyle to the people to the language to the food," said Reid. "But when you love something like I love basketball you can make adjustments to make it work. I really don't like the weather in Finland, it's so cold. It was snowing in April. But it didn't matter because I was playing basketball."
Reid is home for now and will spend some time in High Point this summer. The next stop on his basketball odyssey will be Las Vegas from July 11-15, where he was invited to play in the European summer league. After that, he will evaluate the many offers his agent has received for next season.
Reid's Profile on Eurobasket.com
