BOSTON, Mass. -- Former Northern Illinois University men's basketball player Xavier Silas joined the Boston Celtics on a 10-day contract, the team announced on Wednesday. 

Silas returns to the NBA for the first time since the 2011-12 season when he played he appeared in two regular season games and two playoff games for the Philadelphia 76ers. 

This season with the Northern Arizona Suns in the NBA G League, Silas averaged 18.4 points per game, shooting 38.1 percent from three-point range and 88.2 percent from the free-throw line, while also averaging 4.1 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 43 games. 

A two-year letterwinner at NIU (2009-11), Silas scored 1,072 as a Huskie, becoming just the third player in program history to reach the 1,000-point plateau in two seasons (joining Jim Bradley and Kenny Battle). As a senior in 2010-11, Silas averaged 22.3 points per game, best in the MAC and seventh-best in the nation, while earning First Team All-MAC and First Team NABC District 14 honors.