Vasiljevic to Compete at 29th Summer Universiade
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – University of Miami men’s basketball player Dejan Vasiljevic is set to compete for Australia’s Emerging Boomers at the 29th Summer Universiade (World University Games).
A rising sophomore, Vasiljevic was added Tuesday to the team’s roster, which consists of 12 players under the age of 25 who currently are completing university studies.
Along with Vasiljevic, six USA college athletes were announced on the list, including Emmett Naar, Tanner Krebs, Jack McVeigh, Xavier Cooks, Duop Reath and Gorjok Gak (older brother to Canes’ signee Deng Gak). The remaining five players announced, Kyle Adnam, Matt Kenyon, Rhys Vague, Craig Moller and Tyrell Harrison, are currently competing around Australia.
During his international career, Vasiljevic has shined on some of the biggest stages. Atthe 2013 FIBA Oceania U-16 Championships, the native of Melbourne, Australia, led the team in scoring, putting up 19.3 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game. A year later, after being named the captain of the U-17 Australian team, Vasiljevic averaged 17.4 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game on the all-tournament team. At the 2014 FIBA U-18 Oceania Champions, he averaged 12.6 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.2 assists and at the 2015 FIBA U-19 World Championships in Greece, he averaged 13.3 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.0 assists.
Held in Taipei from August 20-29, the tournament reflects an Olympic atmosphere with as many as eight games played in a ten-day period while the athletes live in a village for the duration of the games.
The Emerging Boomers have only medalled once at the World University Games, in 2013 when they won silver with a team including future Olympians Cameron Bairstow and Ryan Broekhoff.
Australia has been drawn into Group D for the pool stage and will take on Ukraine, Lithuania, Israel, Russia (2015’s bronze medallists) and Mozambique.
The 2017 Emerging Boomers Schedule for the 2017 World University Games (all times AEST):
August 20: Australia vs. Ukraine at 2:30 p.m.
August 21: Australia vs. Lithuania at 5:00 p.m.
August 23: Australia vs. Israel at 5:00 p.m.
August 24: Australia vs. Russia at 2:30 p.m.
August 25: Australia vs. Mozambique at 12:00 p.m.
August 27: Quarter-Finals
August 28: Semi-Finals
August 29: Bronze and Gold medal games
