Boston College Men's Basketball Guard Luka Toews to Represent Japan in Nippon Life Cup

Toews primarily came off the bench for the Eagles in 2024-25 and averaged six points and three assists per game in BC's final four games of the season.

Eddie Shabomardenly / BC Athletics (bceagles.com)

On Wednesday, the Boston College Eagles’ men’s basketball program announced that sophomore point guard Luka Toews was selected to play with Japan’s Men’s National Basketball team this weekend in a pair of games against the Netherlands.

Toews to play with Japanese National Team for Nippon Life Cup 2025

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— BC Men's Basketball (@BCMBB) July 2, 2025

Toews is one of 18 players selected by the national program to represent Japan in the 2025 Nippon Life Cup at Ariake Arena in Tokyo from July 5 to 6. The Nippon Life Cup serves as a training camp before the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup which is held in August in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

In November 2023, the Tokyo native announced his decision to sign with the Eagles’ basketball program after earning Class AAA All-Nepsac honors twice in his junior and senior seasons at The Newman School in Boston, Mass.

Toews was a three-star recruit on 247Sports and Rivals and began his prep career at Northfield Mount Hermon before transferring to Newman as a junior. He averaged 14.0 points per game, 7.0 assists and 4.0 rebounds that season.

This isn’t the first time Toews has been chosen to select Japan in a national basketball tournament—the 6-foot-1 guard also played with Team Asia in the 2023 Adidas Eurocamp in Italy.

Toews’ father, Burke Toews, is a professional basketball coach in Japan and his brother, Kai, played for UNC Wilmington, earning CAA All-Rookie honors in 2018-19.

As a freshman last year, Toews mostly contributed off the bench, averaging 1.6 points and 1.3 assists in just over eight minutes per game. Toews recorded a season-high 14 points in 12 minutes against California on March 1, 2024, going 5-for-8 from the field. 

Toews averaged 6.0 points per game and 3.0 assists in 15 minutes of action off the bench across BC’s final four games of the 2024-25 season. The Eagles posted an overall record of 12-19 last year.

Athleticism runs deep within Toews’ family.

He is also the cousin of three-time Stanley Cup champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Blackhawks, who is now a free agent and working toward a return to the National Hockey League.