| FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Twelve players from nine different states. That’s the composition of the USA Basketball Men’s U16 National Team that is headed to Brazil.
After beginning training camp with 30 athletes on May 22, the U16 team was finalized Tuesday.
The USA team will remain through Wednesday in south Florida to continue preparations for the 2019 FIBA Americas U16 Championship, which will take place from June 3-9 in Belém, Brazil.
The U16 team is:
Amari Bailey of Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.); Max Christie of Rolling Meadows (Arlington Heights, Ill.); Jalen Duren of Roman Catholic (Philadelphia); Gregg Glenn III of Calvary Christian Academy (Pompano Beach, Fla.); AJ Griffin of Archbishop Stepinac (White Plains, N.Y.); Dillon Hunter of Westlake (Atlanta); Richard Isaacs Jr. of Coronado (Las Vegas); Will Jeffress of McDowell (Erie, Pa.); Tamin Lipsey of Ames (Iowa); Chris Livingston of Buchtel (Akron, Ohio); Jabari Smith Jr. of Sandy Creek (Tyrone, Ga.) and Kijani Wright of Windward (Los Angeles).
The U16 team will represent the United States in the sixth FIBA Americas U16 Championship for Men in hopes of securing a gold medal and berth to the 2020 FIBA U17 World Cup.
“It’s been a very long process, but it’s been very rewarding seeing all the guys competing,” said U16 head coach Mike Jones of DeMatha Catholic in Hyattsville, Md. “I’m extremely excited about the 12 guys that we’re going to be traveling with to Brazil. We have a lot of versatility in our group. We have some guys who are really fierce competitors. We have a chance to be a really great defensive team, and with our speed and athleticism, I think we can combine those things to have a very formidable team as we go after the gold medal.”
All 12 of the team members have prior USA Basketball training camp experience.
Bailey, Christie, Duren, Glenn, Hunter, Isaacs, Jeffress, Lipsey, Livingston, Smith and Wright took part in the 2019 USA Junior National Team minicamp in April. Christie, Duren, Glenn, Griffin, Hunter, Isaacs, Jeffress, Lipsey, Livingston and Wright took part in the 2018 USA Junior National team minicamp held last October.
The young Americans will compete in preliminary round Group A and open play against Argentina on June 3, before facing Mexico on June 4 and Dominican Republic on June 5.
Group B will feature Brazil, Canada, Puerto Rico and Uruguay.
Following the June 3-5 preliminary round, all eight teams will advance to the quarterfinals on June 7, the semifinals will be played on June 8 and the gold medal game will be played on June 9. |
