Rising sophomore wing Adama Bal became the latest Arizona player to stand out in international basketball this summer, helping lead France to a fifth-place finish in the FIBA U20 European Championships last weekend in Montenegro.
Playing a key role mostly off the bench, Bal averaged 9.6 points and 1.1 rebounds over seven games while shooting 43.8% overall and 37.9% from 3-point range.
In France’s 84-65 fifth-place win Sunday over Turkey, Bal had 15 points while hitting 3 of 5 3-pointers. Turkey’s roster included both former UA wing Tibet Gorener, who had 22 points, and incoming UCLA freshman Adem Bona, who had 13 points and 10 rebounds.
A day earlier, Bal had 15 points on 5-for-7 shooting and hit both 3s he took in France’s 83-71 win over Croatia. In just nine minutes in first quarter of that game, according to Twitter post from Apollo Media, Bal had nine points while hitting all four shots he took and also recorded two steals.
The 6-foot-6 Bal “used his obscene wingspan to finish over the top of defenders, and make plays on the defensive end against Croatia,” the tweet noted.
Earlier this month, UA guard Pelle Larsson helped Sweden advance to the second round of FIBA World Cup qualifiers, facing both former UA forward Lauri Markkanen of Finland and the Cavaliers, along with Luka Doncic of Slovenia and the Mavericks.
Adama Bal is the latest Wildcat to shine in overseas competition.
While most of the Wildcats have returned to Tucson for offseason workouts this month, Larsson has remained in his home country preparing to play in the next window of Sweden’s World Cup qualifying games: Aug. 25 against Germany and Aug. 28 against Israel.
Meanwhile, junior guard Kerr Kriisa left last week to begin preparing for Estonian national team play in Eurobasket 2022. Estonia is scheduled to begin on Sept 2 against Italy — where he’ll be playing opposite UA assistant coach Riccardo Fois, who has spent the summer helping coach Italian national teams.
Tucson visitors
While former UA center Dusan Ristic left town this week after a 10-day visit, class of 2023 commit KJ Lewis tweeted Monday that he visited Tucson after finishing up play on the Adidas circuit.
Ristic was making his first visit to Tucson since finishing his four-year career with the Wildcats in 2018, and has since returned to his native Serbia to begin workouts with its national team in advance of World Cup qualifying games (Aug. 25 and 28) and Eurobasket (starting Sept. 2).
UA target schedules announcement date
Arizona continues to be the apparent leader for five-star class of 2023 forward Kwame “K.J.” Evans heading into his scheduled Aug. 2 announcement about his future choice.
Evans has also been considering Auburn, Kentucky and Oregon. The latest four predictions on 247Sports.com’s Crystal Ball all have him choosing Arizona. Last month, On3.com wrote that Arizona has been “trending heavily as the favorite” and Evans retweeted a link to the story.
While playing last week at EYBL Peach Jam in South Carolina, Evans told Zagsblog he was picking a school based on “fit, play fit and where they can best help me get to the league.”
In that case, it may help the Wildcats that they put three players into the June NBA Draft, while Evans also told On3 that “I have a genuine relationship with (UA coach) Tommy Lloyd. He’s just a good guy and the program is really good too.”
Evans helped lead Team Durant to the Peach Jam 17U semifinals, finishing with 14 points, 11 rebounds and two assists in a 58-44 loss to Team Takeover last Saturday. Evans shot 5 of 11 overall from the field and 1 for 6 from 3-point range.
“I left it all out there,” Evans told Zagsblog. “I think I played the best for my team and just in general, left it all out there just to try and get a win. Ultimately, what happened, happened.”
Cook planning Arizona visit
After decommitting from Oregon last month, five-star class of 2023 forward Mookie Cook told 247 that he is planning to visit Arizona while continuing to consider Oregon along with Duke, Kentucky and the G League Ignite developmental program.
“Tommy Lloyd is a good dude and I’ve known him for a while now,” Cook told 247 at Peach Jam. “He’s saying it can be a great way of basketball over there for me. He feels like I fit that type of play, where I can go up and down, get rebounds and push the ball.”
“This past year I was looking at Dalen Terry. Just being a big guard, playing the (Nos.) 1 through 4 (positions) and being a mismatch. I really look at what he did. That’s my boy, and the way he played is exactly how I can fit that position for sure.”
The Circuit named Cook to its all-Peach Jam third team after he averaged 12.0 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game while playing for the Oakland Soldiers.
Although the open evaluation period for college coaches ended on Sunday, Cook is playing this week in Las Vegas Big Time Finale games on a star-powered Strive For Greatness team that includes Bronny James, five-star 2023 guard Rob Dillingham and five-star Duke commit Mackenzie Mgbako.
