Fenerbahce’s veteran shooter delivered a strong performance in his first Final Four appearance
Errick McCollum excels after finally reaching the biggest stage
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It has taken a while, but Errick McCollum has finally reached the greatest stage of European basketball.
The Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul guard is now 37 years old, coming towards the end of a nomadic journey which has seen him represent 13 clubs in five different countries since starting out his professional career with Elitzur Netanya in Israel back in 2010.
McCollum’s scoring ability saw him quickly climb up the ladder, and he first enjoyed success on the continental stage by playing a starring role in Galatasaray Istanbul’s BKT EuroCup triumph in 2016, named the competition’s MVP after a series of spectacular displays for the team coached by Ergin Ataman.
He continued to travel far and wide, appearing in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague with Anadolu Efes Istanbul (2017-18) and Khimki Moscow Region (2020-21), before returning to Turkiye to seemingly finish his career with Karsiyaka Izmir.
However, fate then intervened. An early-season injury to scoring star Scottie Wilbekin left Fenerbahce short of numbers in the backcourt, and a couple of months later Sarunas Jasikevicius swooped to add depth and experience to his roster by snapping him up in January.
The results have surely far outweighed even the most optimistic of expectations, with McCollum making light of his age to withstand a grueling schedule and play a key role in his new team’s march to the Final Four – his first – by averaging 12.5 points during 13 regular season appearances.
And in Friday’s semifinal, McCollum rose to the occasion once again by scoring all 13 of his points in the last 15 minutes to help his team secure an 82-76 victory over Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens – and his former coach Ataman – for a place in Sunday’s title decider.
McCollum certainly didn’t look like a man appearing at the Final Four for the first time, and he explained his calmness under pressure by revealing words of encouragement from his loved ones.
“This is a different stage, but the ball is the same and the rim is the same – you do what do you,” he said. “My wife and my brother [NBA star CJ McCollum] told me to be aggressive, that’s the only way to make an impact in the game. Trust yourself.
“My team needed me to get in the paint and create things, and space it with shooting from the three-point line.”
McCollum’s scoring was by no means his only contribution, as he also played a strong part in a team-wide defensive effort which held Panathinaikos to just 48 points in the first three quarters.
One of the Greens to suffer the most was regular season league MVP Kendrick Nunn, whose frustration saw him foul out midway through the final period, and McCollum admitted that was a key to his team’s triumph.
“Kendrick’s a great player, he still had 19 points,” he said. “A guy like that, you can’t stop him, you’ve just got to slow him down, make it difficult and make him work for everything. I think we did a good job as a team collectively and Devon Hall was excellent on him – everywhere he went, he put a body on him.”
So now McCollum’s unlikely late-career story continues all the way to the championship game, and he’s already looking forward to making a major impact.
“I try to do whatever the teams needs and today I’ve seen the three-point opportunities,” McCollum smiled. “But you never know, maybe the mid-ranger will be there on Sunday!”
Maybe… and maybe that kind of confidence will lead one of the Final Four’s oldest-ever debutants all the way to title glory.