Badgers’ Jonathan Davis invited to USA Basketball U19 training camp

Sophomore one of 27 athletes to try out for national team

Wisconsin sophomore Jonathan Davis has been invited to attend the 2021 USA Basketball Men’s U19 World Cup Team training camp, which will take place June 20-22 on the campus of Texas Christian University.

One of 27 athletes to accept an invite, Davis will compete for a spot on the 12-member team that will represent the USA at the 2021 FIBA U19 World Cup, July 3-11 in Latvia.

Davis becomes the latest in a line of recent Badgers to receive an opportunity to represent USA Basketball.

Nigel Hayes accepted an invite from USA Basketball in 2015 for the Pan American Games. In the summer of 2012, Sam Dekker was a member of the USA Basketball U18 national team that defeated Brazil for the gold medal in the FIBA Americas Championship. In 2010, Jon Leuer earned a spot on the USA men’s select team that trained against the U.S. men’s national team as it prepared for the FIBA World Championships.

A native of La Crosse, Davis played in all 31 games for the Badgers as a true freshman last season, averaging 7.0 points, 4.1 rebounds and 24.4 minutes per game as UW’s lead reserve. Davis ranked fifth on the team in minutes played last season, which going back to the 2012-13 season trailed only current teammate Brad Davison and All-American Ethan Happ for the most minutes played by a Badger in his first season at Wisconsin.

This year’s USA Basketball U19 World Cup men’s team will be led by TCU head coach Jamie Dixon, with Stanford head coach Jerod Haase and Yale head coach James Jones rounding out the coaching staff as assistant coaches.

Featuring U19 teams from 16 nations, the 2021 FIBA U19 World Cup is scheduled to be held July 3-11 in Riga and Daugavpils, Latvia. In addition to the USA and host Latvia, teams that will take part in this summer’s U19 World Cup include Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, France, Japan, Lithuania, Mali, Puerto Rico, Senegal, Serbia, South Korea, Spain and Turkey.

The USA was drawn into Group D, alongside Australia, Mali and Turkey for the preliminary round. The USA will open play against Turkey on July 3, followed by Mali on July 4 and close preliminary play against Australia on July 6.

The reigning FIBA U19 World Cup gold medalist, USA men’s teams have won seven gold medals, three silver medals and one bronze medal while compiling a 98-14 overall record in U19 World Cup play since the event was launched in 1979. Even more impressive, the USA has won four of the past six U19 golds since 2009.