Providence brought Jovana Nogić to U.S., productivity brought her to Phoenix Mercury

While growing up in Portugal in a basketball family, Jovana Nogić knew early on her path would include coming to the U.S. for college.

Even her parents Goran and Olivera had the vision to put their elder daughter in an English-speaking kindergarten, adding to the Serbian she learned at home and Portugese elsewhere from living in Lisbon.

Goran is an accomplished basketball coach yet Jovana first started in sports with tennis. “Then it started raining outside and I had to figure something else out,” she says. “Basketball just made sense.”

Jovana would watch her dad coach boys teams, discovering that the sport fit her personality. From 2007-15, that was at SL Benfica, a club where Goran coached senior players and coordinated youth teams. 

“It was my decision to never coach her team,” Goran says. “I loved more to be the dad.”

Still, dad would offer his knowledgeable advice, Jovana says. “He could correct some of my shooting. Not as much feet set or rotation. It was a lot of details with the angles.”

Goran recognized that Jovana, who began playing for her native Serbia youth national teams in 2013, had abilities that “are not so usual.”

Like being a fast learner and her competitiveness. “She has that character,” he says. “Always putting what I can do more to be different than the other players. It was extreme dedication.” 

The kind of work required to get onto the U.S. collegiate scouting radar.

Path to Providence 

Dan Durkin had a history of recruiting international players predating his 14-year run as Duquesne women’s basketball coach.

Including at Penn State, where he was an assistant from 1986-94 and first met Susan Robinson Fruchtl when she was a player. 

In 2012, Robinson Fruchtl became head coach at Providence and hired Durkin for her staff. She knew he had the contacts to find players like Korie Hlede, who came from Croatia for play for Durkin at Duquesne and was WNBA fourth overall draft pick in 1998.

“I loved the Balkans,” Dukin says. “There was a guy who ran trips for college coaches to go international events in Europe. I think he gave me Yoyo’s (Nogić) name. Then I tracked down some information on her, watched tape and got ahold of her dad.

“Him and I hit it off very well, partly because I told him I had done a lot of Balkan recruiting,” including recruiting the niece of Bosnian men’s legend Mirza Delibasic to Duquesne. “The Yanks had to earn their credibility if parents were going to give up their daughter to come here.”

In addition to Yovana, three other SL Benfica players were being recruited by U.S. colleges. Simone Costa went to junior college then Georgia, Joana Alves to Seattle and Marta Vargas to Rhode Island. 

Nogić leaned on her dad’s recruiting guidance. “What do I know at 16 or 17?” she says. “He got in touch with the agents and the agents sent highlights. 

“I did have a visit (to Providence). There were genuinely good people and that was the most important thing for my parents.”

Durkin remembers telling Robinson Fruchtl that “we have to pull the trigger quick on this one. You could tell right away she was legit.” Both traveled to Portugal to make a pitch in person.

“That was one of the most important factors,” Goran says. “For us as family, it was very important to know who are the persons she’ll spent the next four years with.”

Robinson Fruchtl left, though, after Nogić’s freshman season to become Saint Francis athletic director. Jim Crowley replaced her at Providence with a staff that included Jessica Jenkins, now an assistant at Grand Canyon. Durkin moved to Rhode Island before joining Reign3D Training Academy as a recruiting advisor. 

Just like in the Movies 

Think of American teen films in the early 2000s. Everything from Mean Girls to Superbad to High School Musical. 

Some of that rubbed off on Nogić.

“I just remember thinking wow everything is just like in the movies,” she says of arriving at Providence in 2015. “The dorms, the cafeteria. We don’t have college campuses like that.”

For Crowley, inheriting a 6-1 guard who averaged 9.5 points as a freshman was central to the Friars’ rise from 5-24 in Robinson Fruchtl’s final season to 19-16 and the WNIT in 2018-19 when Nogic was a senior.

“You could see someone who had unlimited range and great creativity with the basketball,” says Crowley, who left St. Bonaventure for Providence then returned in 2023. “She was used to a different system than we ran, but she was great in learning. She just really wanted to get better. She was always in the gym and really driven.”

Nogić made a school record 91 3-pointers as a sophomore then upped that to 93 as a senior. Her career 3-point total (323) and season/career free throw percentages also are school bests. She is fourth in Providence career scoring with 1,724 points. 

Had there been unlimited transfers and legal player payment when Nogić was in college, she would have been widely sought by power conference schools.

It’s revealing that Nogić, now 28, isn’t at all convinced she would have left Providence early even if given financial incentive.

“At that young age, you need to do things because you truly love them and not out of interest,” she says. “In that age, which I still consider innocent, you start thinking about things you shouldn’t be thinking money-wise and all of that and you kind of forget the why and the enjoyment and joy you’re supposed to have doing the thing you love to do the most.

“Maybe I’m just old school, but I really find fulfillment in those small things. My best friend (teammate Clara Che from Spain) is from Providence. I wouldn’t change anything.”

Pro success leads back to U.S. 

Pro basketball is paying off handsomely for Nogić.

Both in Russia, where she won a national championship this year playing for UMMC Ekaterinburg and with the Serbian national team she now captains and played for at the 2024 Paris Olympics. 

“I always knew I wanted to play after college,” she says. “Not necessarily in the WNBA, but I always had the dream to play in the EuroLeague. Having that goal in mind and knowing what I needed to do to achieve that goal just fueled that need and want to improve my basketball.”

The Phoenix Mercury, known for their international scouting, noticed and signed Nogić to a contract in April when she was still playing in Russia. 

Despite a rushed arrival compounded by a visa complication, she scored 19 points in her WNBA debut against defending champion Las Vegas on May 9. Then followed up with double-figure scoring in five of the next six games including a league record 27 by an undrafted rookie against Chicago on May 15.

“She’s doing the same stuff that we loved at Providence,” Durkin says. “The 3-point shot is flawless. I loved her passing. She puts it on the dime. She’s so fluid and easy with her stuff. It made me so happy, all the work she’s done. I love the kid.”

Her defense is a liability, though, and she has started just once since May 27 when Monique Akoa Makani returned from French league finals. Starting on June 5 at Portland, she went 0-of-7 from 3-point but still managed nine points and six assists in more of a playmaker role. 

Through June 17, Nogić is ninth in WNBA rookie scoring (10.4 ppg) and first in 3-point makes (32). On Wednesday against Las Vegas, she went 4-of-6 from 3-point and was back into double figures (12) for the first time since May 24. 

“I’ve really been happy with her pick-and-roll offense,” Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts says. “Her minutes her have done because Mo has come back and Lexi (Held) has come in and played well. She’s got a real talent as far as being able to play off the bounce and make shots then also make plays for others.”

With Tibbetts leaning into defense to stem the bleeding from a 4-12 start and veteran guard Sami Whitcomb returning from injury soon, Nogić’s minutes going forward are uncertain. 

Big picture, though, Nogić is happy for the WNBA opportunity and to be back in the U.S. where she is closer to her parents and younger sister Nevena, all of whom moved to Vancouver when she came to Providence. 

Goran is founder of the Basketball 4All Academy in Kamloops, British Columbia. Nevena just finished her freshman season at the University of British Columbia. The family already has traveled to see Jovana play in several Mercury games. 

“Phoenix had to find different ways to explore what she can do the best,” Goran says. “She is a very crafty player that can easily create points for teammates.”

Nogić agrees with her dad.

“I’m not only a shooter,” she says. “I like to play the pick and roll and pass the ball,” sometimes in flashy fashion. “Of course when you can shoot it, it makes it easier because the defense has to guard you differently.”