Zach Andrews

Zachary Leon Andrews (born March 9, 1985) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Northern Arizona Suns of the NBA G League. He grew up in Rancho Cordova, California and played college basketball for Yuba College and Bradley University.

Early life Andrews lived in poverty with his mother and three siblings in Oakland, California as a young child. He later grew up in foster homes for nearly a decade before reuniting with his biological mother to public housing in Sacramento, California as a teenager. Andrews graduated from Cordova High School of Rancho Cordova, California in 2003. At Cordova, Andrews lettered in both basketball and football.

College career

Yuba (2003–2005) Andrews enrolled at Yuba College, a junior college in Marysville, California. He helped its basketball program make the Elite Eight of the California Community College Athletic Association state tournament in 2004 with a program-best record of 24–7 and averaged 10 points and 9 rebounds as a freshman in the 2003–04 season. As a sophomore (2004–05), Andrews earned Bay Valley East All-Conference honors after leading the league with 10.5 rebounds and 2.2 blocked shots per game, finished second in the league in field goal percentage (.584), and was ninth in scoring (13.5 points). He earned the number-one spot on the "Top 10 Plays" of an edition of SportsCenter in 2005 after leaping over a player of the opposing team to slam an alley-oop. Bradley made the second round of the 2007 National Invitation Tournament.

Professional career Andrews worked out with the Sacramento Kings in the summer of 2007 after going undrafted in the 2007 NBA draft. After an attempt to join Farho Gijón of Spanish third-tier LEB Plata fell through, Andrews signed with Costa Urbana Playas de Santa Pola of LEB Plata instead. After an injury, Santa Pola waived Andrews.

In January 2008, Andrews signed with Genc Banvitliler of Turkish Basketball Second League and played the last 14 games of the season, averaging 11.6 points, 10.8 rebounds, and 2 assists. Andrews was an honorable mention all-league pick.

For the 2008–09 season, Andrews played for Rayet Guadalajara of Spanish fourth-tier LEB Bronce and averaged 12.1 points and 10.2 rebounds. Again, Andrews was an honorable mention all-league selection. Four days after the Lakers waived Andrews, the D-Fenders re-acquired Andrews on December 26. Andrews started 42 of 44 games for the D-Fenders and averaged 9.3 points on 64.7% shooting and 7.3 rebounds in 25.4 minutes per game.

Andrews began the 2012–13 season playing two games for Sutor Montegranaro of Italian Lega Basket Serie A. On January 15, 2013, Andrews was reacquired by the Los Angeles D-Fenders. Later that year, he signed with Osaka Evessa of Japan for the 2013–14 season.

After a one-game stint for Fuerza Regia in November 2014, Andrews was reacquired once again by the Los Angeles D-Fenders on December 20, 2014. On October 31, 2015, he was reacquired by the D-Fenders for the 2015–16 season. On January 29, 2016, he was traded to the Iowa Energy, along with two 2016 fifth-round picks, in exchange for Michael Holyfield and a 2016 fourth-round pick. The next day, he made his debut with the Energy in an 87–83 loss to the Canton Charge, recording two points and two rebounds in eight minutes. On February 19, he was waived by Iowa.

Andrews competed for Team 23 in The Basketball Tournament. He was a center on the 2015 team who made it to the $1 million championship game, falling 67–65 to Overseas Elite.

On October 24, 2017, Andrews was called up by the Northern Arizona Suns for training camp. He made their official roster at the start of the season. However, after playing in only three regular season games, Andrews was waived on November 12, 2017, in order to acquire forward Malik Dime on their roster. He was reacquired by Northern Arizona on February 2, 2018.