As a senior , Paul led Illinois to win the Maui Invitational Tournament title in 2012 with a win over Butler in the championship game . Paul was named Most Valuable Player ( MVP ) of the tournament . During his senior season , Paul averaged 16.6 points a game over the course of 36 games . On March 14 , 2013 , Paul hit a game winning shot against Minnesota in the 2013 Big Ten Conference Men 's Basketball Tournament . After graduating , Paul became just the second Illini player to reach career milestones of 1,500 points , 500 rebounds , 300 assists and 100 steals and finished his college career as the eighth-leading scorer in school history with 1,654 points . After going undrafted in the 2013 NBA draft , Paul joined the Minnesota Timberwolves for the 2013 NBA Summer League . On August 10 , 2013 , Paul signed with BC Nizhny Novgorod of Russia for the 2013 – 14 season . In early February 2014 , he left Russia after experiencing racism and a difficult language barrier . Paul returned to the United States after playing in 12 games and averaging 6.4 points , 2.7 rebounds and 0.5 steals in 13.8 minutes per game
2013 Big Ten Conference Men 's Basketball Tournament
2013 Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
Brandon Paul