Basketball New Zealand (BBNZ) are pleased to announce its U18 Men’s National Team for the upcoming FIBA U18 Men’s Asia Championship – to be held in Iran from 21-28 August to 2022.
The travelling squad of 12 will include: Cameron Quinnell, Charlie Dalton, Danyon Ashcroft, Dontae Russo-Nance, Hunter Adam, Isaiah Chappell, Riley Tuuta, River Drefers, Rufus Rusholme-Cobb, Tautoko Wynyard, Thomas Beattie and Tyrael-Cage Heke.
Reserves include: Campbell Scott, Gareth Washer, Phoenix Sorensen, Riley Sa, Salem Broughton and Zachary Thomas.
This announcement comes after both the National Selection Camp – held in Auckland back in April – and last month’s U19 Nationals in Rangiora, with the final squad of 12 selected following these key activities.
The U18 Men’s National Team will be coached by Miles Pearce, with assistant coaches named as Justin Bailey and Jayden Smith. Brent Lay will be Team Manager and Todd Wolfe is Team Physio. Pearce says that he is looking forward to taking a “very talented and versatile” squad to Iran next month.
“One of the things that we’re lucky in having right now is that the vast majority of the players in our squad are in and around very good programmes where they’re from; including academy, rep programmes, school teams – and the bulk of our guys are involved in Sal’s NBL teams in some way,” says Pearce.
“They’ve got that domestic league experience and access to good coaches that we can lean on; coaches like Judd [Flavell] and Brent [Matehaere], Aaron [Young] and Trent [Adam]. It’s phenomenal that I can call these guys and say things like ‘hey can you please get this player to work specifically on such-and-such’, that’s a huge asset for this programme.”
Pearce says that with the challenge of having the squad spread out across the country, his coaching staff have had to adapt to keep the team up to speed.
“We’ve got all the pieces to the puzzle but unfortunately we’re not allowed to put it together just yet. We hope to have a pre-departure camp before flying out to Iran, but because of logistics it’s also a possibility the 12 players will arrive in Iran and meet people for the first time.
“So there will be some workarounds moving forward; for example we’ve been using technology like Hudl to share clips with players around plays we’d like to run, so when they come in we’re not teaching them from zero – the guys have an idea as to what’s going on.
Pearce says that while New Zealand will be facing some tough opposition at the Asia Championships, his squad has the mentality of being world-beaters and to never back down.
“Because of Covid, there’s not a single player on this team who’s been to an international event before; we’ll be going up against other countries who maybe have been able to prepare better than we have, but that’s no excuse for us – we have to step up and put our best foot forward.
“One of the things we talk about is beating the world, we don’t want to just get there, we want to succeed – so we’ve got a top four finish in our sights for the Asian Champs, then after that we’ll push forward and see what we can do and how far we can go.”
The U18 Men’s National Team leaves for Iran on 20 August, with details of the draw to be released shortly. The FIBA U18 Men’s Asia Championship will be available to watch at nz.basketball/tv/
U18 Men’s National Team
Cameron Quinnell, Taranaki Country Basketball
Charlie Dalton, Harbour Basketball
Danyon Ashcroft, North Otago Basketball
Dontae Russo-Nance, Waitakere West Auckland Basketball
Hunter Adam, Canterbury Basketball
Isaiah Chappell, New Zealand
Riley Tuuta, New Plymouth Basketball
River Drefers, Basketball Auckland
Rufus Rusholme-Cobb, Wellington Basketball
Tautoko Wynyard, Harbour Basketball
Thomas Beattie, Harbour Basketball
Tyrael-Cage Heke, Franklin Basketball
Reserves
Campbell Scott, Southland Basketball
Gareth Washer, New Plymouth Basketball
Phoenix Sorensen, Canterbury Basketball
Riley Sa, Canterbury Basketball
Salem Broughton, Tauranga City Basketball
Zachary Thomas, New Zealand
