Former Zags Kelly Olynyk, Kevin Pangos playing for Canada in FIBA qualifiers
The two played together at GU for one season and now get the chance to reconnect in the FIBA 2023 World Cup qualifying rounds (GRAHAM HUGHES / AP).
The 2023 FIBA World Cup qualifiers pick up again with the America qualifiers kicking off Thursday, and the roster for Team Canada features two former Zags. Gonzaga men’s basketball alumni Kelly Olynyk and Kevin Pangos will get minutes with a stacked national team roster that first takes on the Dominic Republic on Friday.
The qualifying for the 2023 FIBA World Cup happens through six tournament windows that started in November of 2021 and go through February of next year. Of the 16 countries from the America’s, 12 will get the chance to move on to the second round where a following 7 will get a berth to the FIB 2023 World Cup. Canada with a perfect 4-0 record in its group has already clinched its spot in the next round.
Olynyk is from Kamloops, British Columbia and won Basketball B.C. player of the year in high school. Since playing at Gonzaga until 2011, Olynyk would enter the NBA and also began playing for the Canadian national team. In six years so far at the international level, Olynyk has played 41 games.
Pangos, a four-year player at Gonzaga, is originally from Holland Landing, Ontario. He started playing for Canada on the international stage just before getting to Spokane, helping his country secure Bronze at the 2009 FIBA Under-16 Championships. He also represented his country at the FIBA U-17 Championships, where played his way onto the all-tournament team, and then played for Canada in the U-19 World Championships in Latvia where he finished second on his team in scoring.
Earlier this year in May, Pangos signed a three-year commitment with Canada’s senior national team.
With Gonzaga’s pipelines to prospects across international borders, the Zags have boasted a number of Canadian players through the years. Most notably now in the NBA is Memphis Grizzlies wing Brandon Clarke, who grew up in Vancouver, Canada. Clarke is not listed on the Canadian national team’s roster heading into the the third stretch of qualifying play for next year’s world cup.
