Short-Handed GB U20s Side To Begin Prep Games in France

By Sam Neter on June 18, 2014

A short-handed Great Britain Under-20 side will begin their preparation for the Division A European Championships this afternoon as they face off against Israel (14:30pm BST) in the Tournoi Mondial Tourcoing.

The squad has once again struggled with availability of players this summer; from the initial squad list of 18, Hoopsfix has learned at least two big names are out – with both Mo Soluade and Tyrell Isaacs having confirmed to British Basketball they will not be suiting up this summer.

Soluade is remaining in Spain as Malaga prepare him for first team duties next year in the ACB, while Isaacs has academic commitments.

Meanwhile, there are currently just twelve players abroad with the squad for their tournaments in France and Spain.

Those twelve are:

Kavell Bigby-Williams
Rowell Graham
Grant Mackay
Luke Mascall-Wright
Josh McSwiggan
Ben Mead
Connor Murtagh
Tamas Okros
Dwayne Orija
Elliott Sentance
Jordan Spencer
Lucas Stivrens

Aside from Soluade and Isaacs, the others missing are Luke Nelson, Alex Young, Ben Lawson and Joe Lockwood. Lockwood is battling injury and is hoping to be healthy for the second stage of camp, meanwhile Luke Nelson and Alex Young are believed to also be expected for the second phase of camp.

The status of Ben Lawson remains unclear, but it is known there were difficulties trying to get him in, as there regularly is with British players in the US college system.

Rowell Graham has been named captain for the summer, as the most experience squad member after being a starter last year.

“I feel privileged to be appointed as the captain for the GB team this summer”, he said to gbbasketball.com. “The team has bonded well over the first few days in camp and we are all very positive!”

“I’m sure the goal for our team is to win and compete at the highest level and if this isn’t our goal, we are not competing to our full potential.”

Head Coach Douglas Leichner is in charge of GB’s under-20 men’s team for a second successive year and added, “Rowell Graham is a great leader with his positive energy, great work ethic and desire to improve on a daily basis.”

“He was tremendous for us last summer and was a key reason we achieved promotion to Division A. Rowell is a tremendous representative of our programme and once again will have a vital role for our team on and off the court.”

GB face their first action in Group B later today where they go up against Israel (14:30 GMT). They then play hosts France and Montenegro in successive days where they will be looking to finish in the top half of their group in advance of the playoffs over the weekend. On the other side of the tournament, Croatia take on Germany in the opening game of the tournament at 12:30 GMT and Turkey go head-to head with the USA after the GB game at 17:30 GMT.

After the tournament, players and staff will travel onto Spain for another three preparation games in Girona against Spain, Greece and Belarus before returning to the UK for a final training camp at the University of Essex in advance of the selection of the final 12 before beginning their European Championship campaign against Latvia on Tuesday July 8th.

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