Peyton Watson Invited to USA Men's U19 Training Camp
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Incoming UCLA freshman Peyton Watson has been selected as one of 27 athletes to participate in the 2021 USA Basketball Men's U19 World Cup Team training camp that will take place June 20-22 at TCU (Fort Worth, Texas).
The final roster of these athletes, age 19 years old or younger, will consist of 12 players to represent the USA in Latvia at the 2021 FIBA U19 World Cup for Men.
Watson, a 6-foot-8 guard/forward from Long Beach, Calif., will be a freshman at UCLA in 2021-22. He was named a McDonald's All-American earlier this year and competed in the Iverson Classic (Memphis) in May. During his abbreviated senior season at Long Beach Poly, Watson averaged 30 points per game for the Jackrabbits.
Watson has been ranked as the No. 8 player, nationally, in his high school class by 247Sports.com. In addition, he has been ranked as California's No. 1 player, by 247Sports.com, in the most recent ranking index. As a junior at Long Beach Poly in 2019-20, Watson averaged 23.2 points, 8.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game.
This summer's USA team will be led by TCU head coach Jamie Dixon. Stanford head coach Jerod Haase and Yale head coach James Jones will round out the coaching staff as assistant coaches.
Featuring U19 teams from 16 nations, the 2021 FIBA U19 World Cup will take place 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 July 3-6 FIBA U19 World Cup preliminary round. The USA will open against Turkey on July 3, followed by Mali on July 4. The USA will close preliminary play against Australia on July 6.
Athletes eligible for this summer's U19 team must be 19 years old or younger (born on or after Jan. 1, 2002) and U.S. citizens.