Kristaps Janičenoks is a Latvian professional basketball player who plays for VEF Riga

VEF Riga

VEF Rīga is the name of a professional basketball club that is based in Riga, Latvia. The club plays their home domestic league games at Olimpiskais Sporta Centrs in Riga. VEF Rīga is the oldest professional basketball club in Latvia and the Baltic region. The club name VEF came from the radio...

 of the Latvian league.

Player profile

Janičenoks first gained attention as a high scoring teenager at the 1999 U-16 European Basketball Championship. He was the second leading overall scorer at the tournament, averaging 23.5 points per game. Shortly thereafter, he spent several seasons in the Latvian Basketball League

Latvian Basketball League

Latvian Basketball League is the national basketball championship of Latvia. The first LBL season was played in 1992. From 1992 to 1999 all championships were won by BK Brocēni, however from 2000 to 2006 BK Ventspils were the champions. In 2007, ASK Rīga stopped BK Ventspils winning streak. BK...

. In seven professional seasons spread out over seven teams and four countries between 2000–01 and 2006–07, he never averaged less than 10 points per game.

After a 2007–08 season in which he averaged a full season career low of 23 minutes and 8.4 points per game with Upim Bologna

Fortitudo Bologna

Fortitudo Pallacanestro Bologna is an Legadue Basket professional basketball club that is based in Bologna. It's currently sponsored by Conad.-History:...

 of the Italian League

Serie A (basketball)

Lega Basket Serie A is the highest level club competition in Italian professional basketball where play determines the national champion. The season consists of a home-and-away schedule of 30 games, followed by an eight-team playoff round. Quarterfinals and semifinals series are best-of-five, and...

, he spent 2008–09 with Reyer Venezia Mestre of the Italian second-tier LegADue

LegADue

Legadue or Lega2 is the second-highest division of professional club basketball in Italy since 2001-2002 season...

. He returned to form in 2008–09 as one of the second-tier league's top scorers, averaging 18.1 points per game over 19 games.

Janičenoks was a member of the Latvia national basketball team

Latvia national basketball team

The Latvian national basketball team is the basketball side that represents Latvia in international competitions.-EuroBasket 1935:The Latvians won the first European basketball championship, the EuroBasket 1935 held by the International Basketball Federation's FIBA Europe continental federation...

 that participated at Eurobasket 2005

Eurobasket 2005

The EuroBasket 2005 was held in Serbia and Montenegro between 16 September and 25 September 2005. Greece won the gold medal by defeating Germany, while France won the bronze medal over Spain...

, Eurobasket 2007

Eurobasket 2007

-Group B:-Group C:-Group D:-Second round:- Group E :- Group F :-Championship bracket:- Quarterfinals :-Classification rounds:- Semifinals :- Third place game:- Final :...

, and Eurobasket 2009

EuroBasket 2009

The EuroBasket 2009 was the 36th EuroBasket, the biennial regional basketball championship contested by European nations and held by FIBA Europe. The tournament, which was hosted by Poland, began on 7 September 2009 and concluded with the final on 20 September 2009...

. At qualification for Eurobasket 2009

EuroBasket 2009

The EuroBasket 2009 was the 36th EuroBasket, the biennial regional basketball championship contested by European nations and held by FIBA Europe. The tournament, which was hosted by Poland, began on 7 September 2009 and concluded with the final on 20 September 2009...

, he hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer to beat Macedonia in the first group game to help lead the team to eventual qualification for the championships.