June 8, 2017
Colorado Springs, Colo. – Georgia Tech sophomore guard Josh Okogie is among 28 of the nation’s best 19-and-under basketball players who have accepted invitations to attend the 2017 USA Basketball Men’s U19 World Cup Team training camp, which will be conducted from June 18-25 at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Invitations were issued by the USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team Committee, and the training camp roster was announced Thursday by USA Basketball. Athletes eligible for this team must be 19 years old or younger (born on or after Jan. 1, 1998) and U.S. citizens.
Read the complete USA Basketball release here
“I’m blessed and honored to receive this opportunity,” said Okogie. “It’s a big milestone in my career. It’s been a dream of mine just to visit other countries, to play internationally.”
Okogie, a 6-4 guard, made the Atlantic Coast Conference All-Freshman team after leading the Yellow Jackets in scoring at 16.1 points per game in 2016-17, leading Tech to a 21-16 record and to the finals of the National Invitation Tournament. He finished the season with the fifth-highest scoring average for a freshman in Tech history, and his 596 total points were the third-most. Overall, he ranked 15th in the ACC in scoring, posting 32 double-digit scoring games, and was the team’s third-leading rebounder at 5.4 per game.
He is the first active Tech player to be invited to a USA Basketball training camp since Marcus Georges-Hunt and Robert Carter, Jr., participated in the Under-19 World Cup Team camp in 2013.
“It’s a tremendous honor for Josh to have an opportunity to try out for the 19-and-under team, and most importantly to have an opportunity to represent the United States of America,” said Tech head coach Josh Pastner.
As the 2013 and 2015 FIBA U19 World Champion, the United States will look for a third-consecutive gold medal at the July 1-9 event in Cairo, Egypt.
Also accepting invitations to attend the USA U19 World Cup Team training camp were: Desmond Bane (TCU/Richmond, Ind.); Bol Bol (Mater Dei H.S./Santa Ana, Calif.); Marques Bolden (Duke/DeSoto, Texas); Chaundee Brown (First Academy/Orlando, Fla.); Devon Daniels (NC State/Battle Creek, Mich.); Hamidou Diallo (University of Kentucky/Queens, NY); Carsen Edwards (Purdue/Atascocita, Texas); Malachi Flynn (Washington State/Tacoma, Wash.); Kevin Huerter (Maryland/Clifton Park, N.Y.); Louis King (Hudson Catholic H.S./Columbus, N.J.); Kevin Knox II (Tampa Catholic H.S./Tampa, Fla.); Romeo Langford (New Albany H.S./New Albany, Ind.); Brandon McCoy (Cathedral Catholic H.S/San Diego, Calif.); De’Anthony Melton (Southern California/North Hollywood, Calif.); Charlie Moore (Kansas/Chicago, Ill.); Chuma Okeke (Westlake H.S./Atlanta, Ga.); Shamorie Ponds (St. John’s/Brooklyn, N.Y.); Payton Pritchard (Oregon/West Linn, Ore.); Immanuel Quickly (John Carroll School/Bel Air, Md.); Cameron Reddish (Westtown School/Norristown, Pa.); Mitchell Robinson (Chalmette H.S./New Orleans, La.); Quinton Rose (Temple/Rochester, N.Y.); Jeremiah Tilmon II (La Lumiere H.S., Ind./East Saint Louis, Ill.); P.J. Washington (Findlay Prep/Las Vegas, Nev.); Austin Wiley (Auburn/Hoover, Ala.); Kris Wilkes (North Central H.S./Indianapolis, Ind.); and Trae Young (Norman North H.S./Norman, Okla.).
University of Kentucky head coach John Calipari will lead the USA U19 World Cup Team with the assistance of Tad Boyle from the University of Colorado and Danny Manning from Wake Forest University. Additionally, Sean Hanrahan of Warner University, Dan Muller of Illinois State University, King Rice of Monmouth University and Jeremy Shulman from Eastern Florida State College will serve as court coaches during the training camp.
Including seven gold medalists from last summer, a total of 16 athletes on the trials roster boast USA Basketball experience. Returning from the 2016 USA U18 National Team are Diallo, Huerter, Washington and Young, which qualified USA Basketball for this year’s FIBA U19 World Cup.
Thirteen athletes recently completed their freshman season in college with six earning conference honors, including Okogie (ACC), Ponds (Big East) and Rose (American), who were named to their respective all-freshman teams. In addition, Flynn and Moore were named Pacific-12 Conference All-Freshmen team honorable mentions, while Melton garnered Pac-12 All-Defensive honorable mention honors.
Of the 14 high school athletes, nine are rising college freshmen and five, Bol, King, Langford, Reddish and Quickly are rising high school seniors. Ten earned high school All-America honors for their play this past season.
2017 FIBA U19 WORLD CUP
FIBA conducted the draw on Feb. 11 in Cairo, Egypt, and announced the four preliminary round groupings. The United States was drawn into Group D for preliminary round games and will open against Iran on July 1, face Angola on July 2 and will cap preliminary round action versus Italy on July 4.
The United States earned its berth into the 2017 FIBA U19 World Cup by virtue of claiming gold at the 2016 FIBA Americas U18 Championship, while Iran earned FIBA Asia U18 gold, Angola won FIBA Africa U18 gold and Italy collected FIBA Europe U18 bronze.
Following the preliminary round, all 16 teams will be seeded according to group play results, and will advance to the July 5 round of 16. Winners will advance to the July 7 medal quarterfinals, while the remaining teams will continue playing out for classification. The medal semifinals will be held July 8, and the gold and bronze medal games are slated for July 9.
Now titled the FIBA U19 World Cup and played every two years, the event originally was known as the FIBA Junior World Championship from 1979 through 2003 and as the FIBA U19 World Championship from 2005-2009, and it was played every four years from 1979 through 2007.
In the 12 previous U19 competitions held, the USA men’s teams have won six gold and three silver medals, including gold in three of the past four U19 championships (2009, 2013 and 2015). In 2015, led by Jalen Brunson, Terrance Ferguson, Harry Giles, Jayson Tatum and Josh Jackson, the USA men finished 7-0 to capture gold. USA U19 teams own an all-time win-loss record of 85-13 in the competition.
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Georgia Tech’s men’s basketball team is beginning its second year under head coach Josh Pastner after compiling a 21-16 record and posting a runner-up finish in the NIT. Tech has been a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference since 1979, won three ACC Championships (1985, 1990, 1993), played in the NCAA Tournament 16 times and played in two Final Fours (1990, 2004). Connect with Georgia Tech Men’s Basketball on social media by liking their Facebook Page, or following on Twitter (@GTMBB) and Instagram.
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