After initially being announced as part of the 24-man squad, Gladiators’ duo, Kyle Johnson and Patrick Whelan have been selected in the narrowed-down 14-man training camp squad and will head to Newcastle to begin preparations for games against Netherlands and Lukas Palyza’s Czechia.
Following a further selection process, the squad will go down to a final 12-man one, who will compete in the two games in Newcastle and Czechia respectively.
The pair make up two of the five British Basketball League representatives in the squad – alongside R.J Eytle-Rock (Sheffield Sharks), Luke Nelson (London Lions), and Josh Ward-Hibbert (Newcastle Eagles) – with the rest of the selections coming from the US college system or internationally.
This Friday, the squad will face Netherlands at the Newcastle Eagles’ Vertu Motors Arena at 7:30, with the game set to be livestreamed on the FIBA YouTube channel.