The Great Britain Senior Men’s squad has now been revealed by Hoopsfix as they opened up training camp on July 5th in preparation for the Subway Summer Slam later this week against South Sudan.
The team, having just returned from Portugal where they went 0-2 against the hosts and Argentina, have been at camp in Essex with a squad featuring a number of new faces as the summer months provide opportunities for college athletes who are not usually available during the international windows.
“This is the first time we’ve run a camp in the summer without any type of competition such as Eurobasket or another competition for ten years, it’s a huge culture change for us,” Senior Men’s GM Dan Clark told Hoopsfix in camp last week.
“We are trying to change the culture of how both players see the program but also coaches and fans and people associated with basketball in this country see the program.”
With a handful of GB veterans such as Carl Wheatle, Luke Nelson, and Myles Hesson, in the squad, first time call ups include Virginia Tech’s Tobi Lawal, recently graduated Kaiyem Cleary, Washington State’s Ethan Price and Manchester Giants’ Evan Walshe.
“We’ve been really purposeful in how we’re using this camp, to embed new players, and to give some younger players the opportunity to develop and grow further,” Head Coach Marc Steutel said.
“We’ve tried to get the balance right of bringing some of our more experienced players as well and we were really clear that we want to use this opportunity to build for the future.”
Their opening game in Portugal on Saturday GB fell to Argentina 85-70. Hesson led GB with 18, Josh Ward-Hibbert had 12 and Dan Akin and Akwasi Yeboah added 10 each.
Meanwhile on Sunday, they lost to the hosts 63-58, having led early in the fourth. Yeboah led GB with 12, while Amin Adamu had 11 and Myles Hesson 10.
Now the team prepare for the big one; taking on South Sudan this Thursday – led by Luol Deng – who starred for GB at the London 2012 Olympics and now returns as President of the South Sudan Basketball Federation.
Akwasi Yeboah
Amin Adamu
Jubrile Belo
Callum Lawson
Carl Wheatle
Dan Akin
Ethan Price
Evan Walshe
Jacob Round
Jelani Watson-Gayle
Josh Steel
Josh Ward-Hibbert
Kaiyem Cleary
Luke Nelson
Michael Belle
Myles Hesson
RJ Eytle-Rock
Tobi Lawal
Tickets are still available for Thursday’s game against South Sudan (7:30pm tip) at the Copper Box – use code HF20OFF for 20% off tickets courtesy of Luol Deng and his Foundation.
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