Olimpia Milano has reached an agreement with RJ Cole, a 1.85 mt point guard born on August 24, 1999, in Union City, New Jersey, coming from Reyer Venezia.
RJ COLE – “I’m really excited for the opportunity to play for such an historical team like Olimpia Milano. I’m deeply humbled and grateful for being abe to achieve another goal of mine since I started my professional career. I can’t wait to go out there with the other players and play with the passion and the fight that the fans deserve”.
HIS CAREER – RJ Cole played for three seasons at St. Anthony High School in Jersey City. In his junior year, the team went undefeated, going 32-0, won the state title, and was ranked No. 4 nationally. In 2017, he began attending Howard University in Washington. In 2018, he was named the MEAC (Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) Rookie of the Year and named to the conference first team, finishing his first season with 23.7 points and 6.1 assists per game. The following season, when he averaged 21.4 points and 6.7 assists per game, he was named the conference Player of the Year and was again named to the conference first team, obviously. In 2019, he left Howard to play for Connecticut (12.2 points and 4.3 assists per game in 2020-21). In the 2021-22 season, he was named to the Big East Conference first team after averaging 15.8 points and 4.1 assists per game. In both seasons at UConn, his team qualified for the NCAA Tournament. In 2022, he began his professional career in Greece with Lavrio (13.8 points and 4.7 assists per game) before moving to Germany, with Braunschweig (14.1 points and 4.9 assists per game). In 2023, he moved to Vilnius (10.3 points and 3.9 assists per game) helping the team win the Lithuanian championship (he averaed 9.7 points and 5.0 assists in the FIBA BCL). In his second year in Vilnius, he played again in the FIBA BCL (15.1 points and 3.9 assists per game), and Vilnius returned to the finals in Lithuania, this time losing to Zalgiris (11.8 points and 3.4 assists per game). In 2025-26, he played in Venezia (16.6 points and 5.1 assists per game in the Italian League), making his Eurocup debut (12.2 points and 4.9 assists per game).
NOTES – His father, Robert Cole, has been inducted into the Long Island University Basketball Hall of Fame, where he played until 1983. His high school coach was Hall of Famer Bob Hurley Sr., the father of his UConn coach, Dan Hurley.
