Wisconsin men’s basketball: Jonathan Davis invited to try out for US national team

On Wednesday afternoon, it was announced that Wisconsin Badgers freshman wing Jonathan Davis was invited to try out for the US national team who will be competing in the FIBA U19 World Cup, which will take place in Latvia this July.

Davis, a native of La Crosse, played in every game for the Badgers in his freshman season and averaged 7.0 points per game, 4.1 rebounds per game. 1.1 assists per game, 1.1 steals per game and 0.6 blocks per game. An athletic wing who can guard multiple positions, Davis also shot 38.9% from deep and 72.7% from the free throw line.

The USA team will be coached by Jamie Dixon of TCU and the training camp will be held on campus in Fort Worth, Texas. Practices begin June 20 and the selected members of the team will depart for Latvia June 27 with competition beginning on July 3 in Riga.

The American team is in Group D with Australia, Mali and Turkey. They will play Turkey on July 3, Mali on July 4 and the Aussies on July 6. All games will be played at the Olympic Sports Centre in Riga. After the round-robin games, each team is seeded in their group and then move on the knockout round of 16. Team USA is the defending champs and will hope to be in the finals again on July 11.

The 2019 team featured players like Cade Cunningham, Evan Mobley, Jalen Suggs and Tyrese Haliburton among many others names you already know from their play in the NBA as rookies or as players about to be drafted in the first round of this year’s NBA Draft.

The other three groups are: Group A featuring Canada, Japan, Lithuania and Senegal; Group B featuring Iran, Latvia, Puerto Rico and Serbia; and Group C featuring Argentina, France, Spain and South Korea.

First held in 1979, the USA men’s teams in the 14 FIBA U19 competitions held have won seven gold medals, three silver medals and one bronze medal, including gold in four of the past six U19 World Cups (2009, 2013, 2015 and 2019), and own a 98-4 all-time record at the event.