DaVonte Lacy heads back to China
Washington State senior guard DaVonte Lacy has been chosen to participate as one of 13 Pac-12 men's basketball players who will play in a four-game All-Star tour of China this summer. The tour is part of the conference's Globalization Initiative, which aims to market the conference to international fans.
Utah's Larry Krystkowiak will coach the team, which includes players from every member school except Oregon and UCLA.
It will be at least the second basketball-related trip to China for Lacy, who led the Cougars with 19.4 points per game last season. He also competed internationally in Jamaica through Athletes in Action.
WSU's press release explains a bit about what the athletes will be doing abroad:
The Pac-12 All-Star team will face a Chinese university all-star team and play three games against teams from the Chinese Basketball Association, including the Shanghai Sharks. Eight-time NBA All-Star Yao Ming owns the Sharks. Max Zhang, a former CALIFORNIA student-athlete has been the center for the Sharks since his return to China in 2010. It will also play the Guangdong Southern Tigers, the 2013-14 Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) regular season champion. The Tigers' leading Chinese scorer is Yi Jianlian, who played for the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks under Krystkowiak during the 2007-08 season before returning to the CBA in 2012.
In addition to the competition in China, the team will participate in various youth clinics, as well as take in the culture and history of China with visits to various landmarks and historical sites in the cities of Shanghai, Nantong and Shenzhen.
A full roster and tentative schedule is after the jump.
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2014 Pac-12 Men’s Basketball China Tour Roster
Name, School, Pos., Ht, Wt, Yr.*, Hometown
Andrew Andrews, Washington, G, 6-2, 195, Jr., Portland, Ore.
Bo Barnes, Arizona State, G/F, 6-4, 195, Sr., Scottsdale, Ariz.
Malcolm Duvivier, Oregon State, G, 6-2, 205, So., Toronto, Canada
Jacob Hazzard, Arizona, G, 6-0, 160, Jr., Los Angeles, Calif.
Xavier Johnson, Colorado, F, 6-7, 220, Jr., Los Angeles, Calif.
Nikola Jovanovic, USC, F, 6-10, 215, So., Belgrade, Serbia
DaVonté Lacy, Washington State, G, 6-4, 215, Sr., Tacoma, Wash.
Jordan Loveridge, Utah, F, 6-6, 210, Jr., West Jordan, Utah
Roger Moute a Bidias, California, F, 6-7, 200, Sr., Yaounde, Cameroon
Cheikh N’diaye, Oregon State, C, 7-0, 230, So., Dakar, Senegal
Jeremy Olsen, Utah, C, 6-10, 232, Sr., Lawrenceville, Ga.
Schuyler Rimmer, Stanford, C, 6-10, 255, So., Orlando, Fla.
Brandon Taylor, Utah, G, 5-10, 165, Jr., Los Angeles, Calif.
*-Year indicates projected athletic year in school for the 2014-15 season.
Tentative Tour Itinerary
Aug. 7-9 - Pre-tour practice at San Francisco site to be determined
Aug. 10 - Depart for Shanghai, China
Aug. 11 - Arrive Shanghai, China
Aug. 13 - Game 1 vs. Chinese University All-Stars (Shanghai)
Aug. 14 - Game 2 vs. Jiangsu Dragons or Shanghai Sharks (Nantong)
Aug. 15 - Pac-12 Academic Symposium
Aug. 16 - Game 3 vs. Shanghai Sharks (Shanghai)
Aug. 17 - Youth clinic at the Yi Jianlian Basketball Camp
Aug. 18 - Game 4 vs. Guangdong Southern Tigers (Shenzhen)
Aug. 19 or 20 - Depart for United States