Initial Great Britain Under-20 Squad Announced

By Sam Neter on June 5, 2014

Head Coach Doug Leichner has named his initial eighteen man squad for the Great Britain Under-20s’ first Division A European Championship campaign.

Headlined by UC Irvine backcourt Luke Nelson and Alex Young, who is eligible through having a British mother, the squad is made up of predominantly the 1995 born ‘golden generation’ with one notable absence; Kingsley Okoroh, who is believed to be preparing for college as he recently signed with the Cal Bears.

The team has big shoes to fill, following on from last year’s group who became the first GB U20 male side to get the promotion to Division A led by Devon van Oostrum.

There are four holdovers from that squad, starter Rowell Graham, along with Joe Lockwood, Scotland’s Grant Mackay and Jordan Spencer, while EABL Defensive Player of the Year Kavell Bigby-Williams and 7 foot Ben Lawson from Western Kentucky will look to make up for Okoroh’s absence.

The athletic Tyrell Isaacs, along with his former running mate Dwayne Orija will be battling for a guard spot, along with Mo Soluade who will be flying in from Spain where he been under contract with Unicaja for the past couple of seasons.

Aside from Alex Young, Connor Murtagh is the only player on the squad without previous EB or GB national team experience.

Former England Under-18 Captain Ben Mead will also be in attendance, after finishing his freshman year at D2 school Franklin Pierce, along with Elliott Sentance who hasn’t played this season due to injury but will be looking to prove his health.

Josh McSwiggan and Luke Mascall-Wright will provide some athleticism on the wing, with big man Lucas Stivrins, and Bristol’s Tamas Okros rounding out the squad.

“Nobody will have bigger expectations of what we can do as a group, than ourselves. We have good talent and depth and in their different ways, they’ve all experienced a measure of success,” Coach Leichner told gbbasketball.com.

“The challenge we offer to them is to lay down the groundwork – putting in the hard work, team bonding, creating a winning culture. After all, we have to unify this group in a small preparation camp. We look forward to what Division A has in store and it’s going to be exciting.”

The announcement comes just ten days before camp is due to open after multiple problems with player availability and schedules. It is believed to be possible that a number of players will be joining camp later than when it is scheduled to open, on Sunday June 15th at the University of Essex’s Colchester campus.

From there, they head to France and Spain for tournaments before returning to Essex and then departing for the Europeans on July 7th.

They will fly to Crete where they face Latvia, Hungary, Greece and Lithuania in Group A, beginning on July 9th.

GB U20 Preliminary Squad

Kavell Bigby Williams, 6’10, Forward, Lewisham Thunder, England
Rowell Graham, 6’5, Forward, Leeds Carnegie, England
Tyrell Isaacs, 5’11, Guard, London Greenhouse Pioneers, England
Ben Lawson, 7’0, Forward, Western Kentucky, England
Joseph Lockwood, 6’8, Forward, Barking Abbey Regional Institute of Basketball, England
Grant Mackay, 6’4, Forward, St Anselm’s College, NH Scotland
Luke Mascall Wright, 6’3 Guard, Ipswich Basketball, England
Joshua McSwiggan, 6’7, Guard/Forward, Leicester Riders, England
Benjamin Mead, 6’9, Forward, Franklin Pierce, England
Connor Murtagh, 6’5, Guard, Manchester Magic, England
Luke Nelson, 6’3, Guard, UC Irvine, California England
Tamas Okros, 6’7, Forward, Bristol Flyers, England
Dwayne Orija, 6’3, Guard, Barking Abbey Regional Institute of Basketball, England
Elliott Sentance, 6’5, Guard, Leicester Warriors, England
Morayo Soluade, 6’5, Forward, Unicaja de Malaga, England
Jordan Spencer, 6’2 Point Guard, Augustana College, SD England
Lucas Stivrins, 6’11, Centre, University of Nevada, England
Alex Young, 6’1, Guard, UC Irvine, California England

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