Kylan Boswell, Jalen Lewis, Robert Dillingham Highlight USA U16 Roster
Nike Peach Jam champion Kylan Boswell and Overtime Elite center Jalen Lewis highlight a talented 12-man roster that will compete in the 2021 FIBA Americas U16 Championship that will be played Aug. 23-29 in Xapala, Mexico.
Tryouts kicked off on August 13 with 27 elite prospects. The final team will train through August 19 before leaving for Mexico.
"I think we got a great group of young men," said USA U16 National Team head coach Sharman White (Pace Academy, Ga.). "Some of the things that stand out with this group is we've got an incredible group of guards, we've got a lot of versatile frontcourt players and we think we've got some guys that can really get after it.
RELATED: 12 Standouts from 12 Days at Peach Jam
"They possess a lot of athleticism but they also are very skilled and it allows us to be able to play the way we want to play as USA Basketball. So we're looking forward to working with this group, looking forward to all the things that this group is capable of doing and hopefully they'll submit their legacy with every other U16 group that we've had at USA Basketball.”
Team USA will play in Group B at the FIBA Americas U16 Championship and meet Puerto Rico on Aug. 23 (3:30 p.m. ET), Dominican Republic on Aug. 24 (12:30 p.m. ET) and Chile on Aug. 25 (12:30 p.m. ET).
All eight teams advance to the quarterfinals on Aug. 27. The quarterfinal winners play in the semifinals on Aug. 28 and on Aug. 29, the semifinal winners meet in the gold medal game.
The top four finishing teams at the 2021 FIBA Americas U16 Championship will qualify for the 2022 FIBA Men’s U17 World Cup.
"We've got a lot a lot of things we got to try to get prepared for as we get ready to go to Mexico and these guys have shown they're very coachable and they also take the coaching and learn from it," White said. "So we feel comfortable knowing that we'll be able to put a lot of the things we want to do in and we'll just keep continue to develop this group and progress them in hopes of bringing home a gold medal."
Team USA is 31-0 in FIBA Americas U16 Championship play and have won the gold medal in all six tournaments since its debut in 2009.
Here is the full roster:
- Kylan Boswell
- David Castillo
- Jaylen Curry
- Robert Dillingham
- Jeremy Fears
- Ronald Holland
- Ian Jackson
- Ryan "RJ" Jones Jr.
- Jalen Lewis
- Liam McNeeley
- Justin McBride
- Bryson Tucker