Ben Richardson (born February 26, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for Spišskí Rytieri of the Slovak Basketball League. He spent four seasons with the Loyola Ramblers at the college level, winning Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Defensive Player of the Year as a senior. In his final season at Loyola, he also helped his team reach the Final Four round of the 2018 NCAA Division I tournament. Early life From an early age, Richardson played youth basketball under the coaching of his father and Ed Fritz, who was also head coach for Blue Valley Northwest High School in Overland Park, Kansas. In third grade, he began playing with Clayton Custer, who he met in first grade and would become his future high school and college teammate. In the following year, Richardson helped his youth team win the United States Specialty Sports Association national championship with Custer, and when he was in sixth grade, they won it a second time. For many years of his childhood, Richardson took part in Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) tournaments and summer leagues. High school career Richardson played four years of basketball for Blue Valley Northwest High School, finishing with an overall record of 94–6. In all four seasons of high school, he helped his team reach the Kansas Class 6A State Championship game, winning two consecutive titles in his final two years. As a junior, he averaged 12.8 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game, and as a senior, he averaged 11.4 points per game, earning first-team All-State honors in both seasons. Richardson was deemed a three-star recruit by recruiting service Rivals but was not rated by ESPN or 247Sports. He gained limited interest from major NCAA Division I programs, primarily receiving offers from mid-major colleges like Indiana State and UMass. He committed to play for Loyola (Illinois) on September 29, 2013 under head coach Porter Moser. College career As a freshman for Loyola in the 2014–15 season, Richardson averaged 4.2 points, shooting .381 from the field, in 20 minutes per game. His best game of the season was a season-high 15 points, going 5-of-5 from the three-point line, in a win over Indiana State at the 2015 Missouri Valley Conference tournament quarterfinals. He accumulated a team-high 33 steals. In his sophomore campaign, Richardson averaged 4.9 points, with a .402 field goal percentage, in 23.8 minutes per game. He was named to the