Onuaku To Partake In February Training Camp For USA Basketball

USA Basketball announced today that Greensboro Swarm center Chinanu Onuaku has been selected as one of 13 players who will compete for a spot on the USA’s February 2019 World Cup Qualifying Team.

Onuaku and the other hopefuls, including four returning players, will contend for a roster spot during training camp at the University of Miami on February 15-19. Training will continue February 21 and 24 at the home of the Greensboro Swarm, the Fieldhouse at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex.

The 12-man team will be made by the USA Basketball Men’s World Cup Qualifying Team Committee. Team USA concludes FIBA World Cup Qualifying with a pair of home second round games, February 22 (vs. Panama, 7 p.m.) and February 25 (vs. Argentina, 7 p.m.).

Onuaku, a 6-9 center from Louisville, was the No. 2 overall selection in the 2018 NBA G League Draft by the Greensboro Swarm. The Lanham, Maryland, native has started 33 games for Greensboro and averaged 14.4 points, 12.4 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.7 blocks and 1.3 steals in 29.3 minutes per contest. Onuaku leads the league with 24 double-doubles and is amongst the league leaders in rebounds per game. He was the No. 37 pick in the 2016 NBA Draft by the Houston Rockets, appearing in six games with Houston and 83 with their G League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers.

In addition to Onuaku, the USA training camp roster includes: Josh Adams (Raptors 905), Kyle Casey (Memphis Hustle), Chris Chiozza (Capital City Go-Go), Charles Cooke (Sioux Falls Skyforce), Michael Frazier II (Rio Grande Valley Vipers), Reggie Hearn (Stockton Kings), D.J. Hogg (Delaware Blue Coats), Tanner McGrew (Salt Lake City Stars), Xavier Munford (Wisconsin Herd), Cameron Reynolds (Stockton Kings), Emanuel Terry (Sioux Falls Skyforce) and Travis Trice (Austin Spurs).

Former NBA head coach Jeff Van Gundy, who has led the USA to an 8-2 record in FIBA Americas World Cup Qualifying action and earned the United States a qualifying berth for the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup, again is head coach of the USA Basketball Men’s World Cup Qualifying Team. Former University of Georgia head coach Mark Fox and former Georgetown University head coach John Thompson III again are serving as USA assistant coaches.

“Beginning in July 2017 with the AmeriCup and including the entire World Cup Qualifying process that started back in November 2017, this has been an incredible journey and we are now focused on completing the FIBA Americas World Cup Qualifying with a pair of home games against two very well coached national teams,” said Van Gundy. “We look forward to the challenge of playing Panama and Argentina and doing so in Greensboro on our home court and in front of our fans.

“It’s obviously helpful to have four players returning who have previous World Cup Qualifying game experience and I’m also looking forward to working with our new players. Whether it is demonstrated by the players who have returned, or the eagerness of the new players to represent the United States, I’ve really been struck by the commitment and the excitement our players have shown in being part of the process of qualifying the USA for the 2019 FIBA World Cup.”

Including Onuaku, five of the U.S. players have NBA regular season experience: Cooke (13 games with New Orleans Pelicans); Hearn (three games with Detroit Pistons); Munford (20 games with Milwaukee Bucks and Memphis Grizzlies) and Terry (two games with Phoenix Suns).

With a total of seven 2019 FIBA World Cup qualifying berths going to the top three finishing teams in each of the Americas two second round groups and to the best ranked fourth place team, Argentina (9-1) and the USA (8-2) from second-round Group E, and Venezuela (9-1) and Canada (8-2) in Group F already have captured a qualifying berth for 2019 FIBA World Cup. Puerto Rico (6-4) and Uruguay (6-4) in Group E and Brazil (7-3) and Dominican Republic (6-4) in Group F remain in contention for the last three Americas qualifying berths. Group E teams Mexico (3-6) and Panama (3-6), and Group F teams Chile (2-8) and U.S. Virgin Islands (2-8) no longer are in contention for a World Cup qualifying berth.

The full Americas World Cup Qualifying schedule/results can be found here.

Tickets for the two games at the Fieldhouse can be purchased here or at the Greensboro Coliseum box office.

NOTE:  Age reflects player’s age as of completion of the February 2019 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers (Feb. 25, 2019).

FIBA World Cup Qualifying
Under FIBA’s new competition system, a total of 80 national teams from FIBA’s four regions of Africa, Americas, Asia and Europe initially competed in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Qualifying first round, looking to earn a qualifying berth into the 32-team 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup competition that will be held August 31-September 15 in China.

The FIBA World Cup Qualifying games are being used to qualify 31 of the 32 nations that will compete in the 2019 FIBA World Cup. China automatically qualified as the host nation of the 2019 FIBA World Cup. Five teams will qualify from Africa, seven teams from the Americas, seven teams from Asia and 12 teams from Europe.

The current two-time defending World Cup champion USA men have participated in 17 FIBA World Cups and have collected 12 medals - five gold medals (1954, 1986, 1994, 2010 and 2014), three silver medals (1950, 1959 and 1982) and four bronze medals (1974, 1990, 1998 and 2006). USA Men’s World Cup teams own an overall record of 123-27.

Results from the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 will qualify seven teams for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Additionally, Olympic host Japan automatically qualified, and the final four nations will qualify through four FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments that will be held in 2020 in advance of the Olympics.