The Serbian Sniper is Back

The Serbian sniper is back. Instead of raining three’s from the court the former player will be helping Purdue from the sidelines. Sasha announced he will be joining the coaching staff after retiring from his overseas stint.

A Crown Point grad, Sasha averaged 20 points, 7 rebounds, and 2.1 assists as a senior. He hit the game winning 3 at the end of a double-time victory in the state championship in 2016. He was awarded the Northwest Indiana Player of the Year by the Times and finished as the all school’s leading scorer with 1,385 points.

After high school he received offers from Loyola, Northern Iowa, Valparaiso, Evansville, DePaul and Xavier. He was pursued by Purdue but they didn’t have a scholarship available. When Basil Smotherman departed from Purdue, a scholarship became available and Stefanovic committed to Purdue.

He redshirted his first year at Purdue but appeared in all 36 games the next season when Purdue reached the elite eight. Purdue went 13-3 that season when he hit a triple. As a sophomore he averaged 9.1 points a game and had a career high 23 points against Central Michigan including seven 3-pointers. The seven trifectas were the most by a freshman or sophomore in school history.

As a junior Stefanovic shot 41.6% from the field and 40% from 3. He scored the tie-breaking 3 against Ohio State with under a minute to play to set up the Jaden Ivey game winner at Mackey Arena. He was named the Big Ten’s All-Academic Big Team.

As a senior he started every game averaging 10.4 points and 3 assists per game. He had a 3-pointer in 29 straight games which was the third longest in school history. He finished his career 226 career 3-pointers, the seventh most in school history and finished just 20 points shy 1,000 for his career.

He went undrafted leaving Purdue but joined the Spurs for NBA summer league. In August of 2022 he signed his first professional contract with Kollossos Rodou. In March of 2023 he announced his retirement from his professional basketball career before later announcing he was coming back to Purdue.

It wasn’t specified what role the former player would be fulfilling for Purdue but it’s always good to see a former Boiler on the sideline helping out their alma mater.