Utah Forward Mikael Jantunen To Play For Finland At FIBA EuroBasket 2022 Qualifier

If Utah is going to make a run over the new few weeks, it's going to have to come without one of its starters and most reliable players.

The school announced on Saturday that Mikael Jantunen will miss the next "few weeks" in order to compete with Finland's national team in the FIBA EuroBasket 2022 Qualifier.

“We wish Mikael and the Finnish National Team all the best as they take care of business over at the FIBA EuroBasket 2022 Qualifier,” Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak said. “We look forward to him joining us down the home stretch of the season and compete in the Pac-12 Tournament.”

Jantunen, a native of Helsinki, Finland who attended the Helsinki Basketball Academy growing up, has really emerged as an all-around weapon for the Utes this season.

He averages 8.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, numbers that rank third on the team, while shooting 64.6% from the field, 33.3% from beyond the arc and 84.2% from the free throw line. His shooting percentage from the floor is tops in the Pac-12.

Just 1-3 at the FIBA EuroBasket 2022 Qualifiers, Finland needs Jantunen's skillset for an extremely important game coming up. The Finnish National Team is playing an elimination game with Switzerland on Friday, Feb. 19, before wrapping up competition with Georgia on Sunday, Feb. 21. Both Serbia and Georgia have already advanced out of Group E.

According to Jantunen, and knowing Utah's recent run of success and potential push to the postseason, the decision to leave the program at this moment wasn't an easy one.

“It wasn’t an easy decision and I never want to miss any games,” Jantunen in a school press release. “At the same time, I’m going to play for my country and when they called saying they needed me, I felt like I had to go and I want to go help us qualify for the tournament. I’ve been playing with the national team since I was a teenager and it’s been a dream of mine to play for the senior national team and represent my country.”

Jantunen is expected back in time for the Pac-12 men's basketball tournament, slated to begin on Wednesday, March 10. Utah, who is currently 9-8 overall, 6-7 in the Pac-12 and sitting in 7th place, had its three-game winning streak snapped Saturday night following their 73-66 loss to Stanford.

“This goes back to when we originally recruited Miki,” Krystkowiak said. “It was always going to be a promise made on my part that he could take part in all the (Finnish) national team events. … Any other year, it doesn’t have that impact. There have been a lot of discussions and it kinda came down to the wire with the direction that we went.”

Mikael Jantunen will join the Finnish🇫🇮 National Team in hopes of advancing in the FIBA @EuroBasket 2022 Qualifier. https://t.co/7gFTiXm32Z
— Utah Basketball (@UtahMBB) February 14, 2021

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