By R.L. Bynum
James Okonkwo scored 18 points, his highest total of the FIBA U20 European Championships Division B, but it wasn’t enough for his Great Britain team in the first of two consolation-bracket games.
After playing before a packed arena in a quarterfinal loss Friday to host North Macedonia, it was back to a mostly-empty Sports Centre Boris Trajkovski arena in Skopje, North Macedonia, on Saturday as the Netherlands pulled out an 82–78 victory over the British team.
It was only the second time in six games that the 6–8, 240-pound UNC transfer from West Virginia has failed to produce a double-double, as he pulled down a tournament-low seven rebounds.
Great Britain (2–4) plays its final tournament game at 5 a.m. ET Sunday against Switzerland (3–3), which lost 76–58 to Portugal on Saturday.
Okonkwo, who blocked two shots, got most of his points inside, including a few dunks and a short jumper, making nine of 11 shots.
Okonkwo’s hook shot gave Great Britain a 2–0 lead 20 seconds into the game. His team built an 11–2 lead and took a 17–15 advantage into the second quarter. The Netherlands (4–2) went on a 10–3 second-quarter run and owned a 36–31 edge at halftime.
An Okonkwo layup with 4:25 remaining in the third quarter sliced Great Britain’s deficit to 50–49, and it held a couple of one-point leads before trailing 60–58 entering the final quarter.
Okonkwo’s block at one end and dunk at the other cut a Netherlands lead that had ballooned to nine to 70–65 with 5:43 remaining. Another Okonkwo dunk cut Great Britain’s deficit to three with 4:54 left and his alley-oop dunk with 3:15 left cut the Netherlands’ lead to 73–72, but Great Britain never got closer.
Date | Month/day | Score | Opponent/event (current ranks) | Record |
---|---|---|---|---|
October | ||||
27 | Friday | W, 117–53 | vs. St. Augustine’s | Exhibition |
November | ||||
6 | Monday | W, 86–70 | vs. Radford | 1–0 |
12 | Sunday | W, 90–68 | vs. Lehigh | 2–0 |
17 | Friday | W, 77–52 | vs. UC Riverside | 3–0 |
Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas | ||||
22 | Wednesday | W, 91–69 | Northern Iowa | 4–0 |
23 | Thursday | L, 83–81, OT | Villanova | 4–1 |
24 | Friday | W, 87–72 | Arkansas | 5–1 |
ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge | ||||
29 | Wednesday | W, 100–92 | vs. No. 6 Tennessee | 6–1 |
December | ||||
2 | Saturday | W, 78–70 | vs. Florida State | 7–1, 1–0 ACC |
Jimmy V Classic in New York | ||||
5 | Tuesday | L, 87–67 | No. 1 Connecticut | 7–2 |
CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta | ||||
16 | Saturday | L, 87–83 | No. 12 Kentucky | 7–3 |
Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte | ||||
20 | Wednesday | W, 81–69 | Oklahoma | 8–3 |
————————— | ||||
29 | Friday | W, 105–60 | vs. Charleston Southern | 9–3 |
January | ||||
2 | Tuesday | W, 70–57 | at Pittsburgh | 10–3, 2–0 ACC |
6 | Saturday | W, 65–55 | at Clemson | 11–3, 3–0 ACC |
10 | Wednesday | W, 67–54 | at N.C. State | 12–3, 4–0 ACC |
13 | Saturday | W, 103–67 | vs. Syracuse | 13–3, 5–0 ACC |
17 | Wednesday | W, 86–70 | vs. Louisville | 14–3, 6–0 ACC |
20 | Saturday | W, 76–66 | vs. Boston College | 15–3, 7–0 ACC |
22 | Monday | W, 85–64 | vs. Wake Forest | 16–3, 8–0 ACC |
27 | Saturday | W, 75–68 | at Florida State | 17–3, 9–0 ACC |
30 | Tuesday | L, 74–73 | at Georgia Tech | 17–4, 9–1 ACC |
February | ||||
3 | Saturday | W, 93–84 | vs. No. 13 Duke | 18–4, 10–1 ACC |
6 | Tuesday | L, 80–76 | vs. Clemson | 18–5, 10–2 ACC |
10 | Saturday | W, 75–72 | at Miami | 19–5, 11–2 ACC |
13 | Tuesday | L, 86–79 | at Syracuse | 19–6, 11–3 ACC |
17 | Saturday | W, 96–81 | vs. Virginia Tech | 20–6, 12–3 ACC |
24 | Saturday | W, 54–44 | at Virginia | 21–6, 13–3 ACC |
26 | Monday | W, 75–71 | vs. Miami | 22–6, 14–3 ACC |
March | ||||
2 | Saturday | W, 79–70 | vs. N.C. State | 23–6, 15–3 ACC |
5 | Tuesday | W, 84–51 | vs. Notre Dame | 24–6, 16–3 ACC |
9 | Saturday | W, 84–79 | at No. 13 Duke | 25–6, 17–3 ACC |
ACC tournament Washington | ||||
14 | Thursday | W, 92–67 | Quarterfinals: Florida State | 26–6 |
15 | Friday | W, 72–65 | Semifinals: Pittsburgh | 27–6 |
16 | Saturday | L, 84–76 | Final: N.C. State | 27–7 |
NCAA tournament | ||||
21 | Thursday | W, 90–62 | First round in Charlotte: Wagner | 28–7 |
23 | Saturday | W, 85–69 | Second round in Charlotte: Michigan State | 29–7 |
28 | Thursday | L, 89–87 | Sweet 16 in Los Angeles: No. 19 Alabama | 29–8 |
Key events, dates
Saturday, April 27, was the deadline for players to submit their names to the NBA draft
Wednesday was the deadline for players to enter the transfer portal
May 11–12 — NBA G League Elite Camp in Chicago
May 12–19 — NBA Combine in Chicago
May 17–19 — Evaluation for high school players at NCAA-certified events (EYBL in Indianapolis is one of those)
May 29 at 11:59 p.m. — Deadline to withdraw from NBA draft and maintain college eligibility
June 16 at 5 p.m. — Deadline to withdraw from the NBA draft
UNC schedule so far
Nov. 8 — at Kansas (final AP rank No. 20; final NET ranking No. 19)
Nov. 22 — at Hawaii (final NET ranking No. 172)
Nov. 25–27 — Maui Invitational — Auburn (final AP rank No. 18; final NET ranking No. 5), Colorado (unranked; No. 25), Connecticut (No. 1; No. 2), Dayton (No. 24; No. 23), Iowa State (No. 8; No. 6), Memphis (unranked; No. 75), Michigan State (unranked; No. 24)
Dec. 14 — vs. La Salle (final NET ranking No. 195)
Likely in late November — Opponent TBA in ACC/SEC Challenge
December — vs. UCLA (final NET ranking No. 107) in CBS Sports Classic (date, location TBA)
December — vs. Florida (final NET ranking No. 29) in Jumpman Invitational at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center (date TBA)
— Games home and away against Duke, N.C. State and Pittsburgh
— Home games vs. Boston College, California, Georgia Tech, Miami, SMU, Stanford and Virginia
— Road games vs. Clemson, Florida State, Louisville, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest
Note: 2024 NCAA tournament teams are in bold.
Potential 2024-25 UNC roster
No. | Class | Player | Pos. | Hgt | Wgt |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
— | Freshman | James Brown (4 star) | 5 | 6–8 | 225 |
— | Freshman | Ian Jackson (5 star) | 2 | 6–4 | 180 |
— | Freshman | Drake Powell (5 star) | 2 | 6–5 | 185 |
2 | Soph. | Elliot Cadeau | PG | 6–1 | 180 |
1 | Soph. | Zayden High | 4 | 6–9 | 225 |
— | Junior | Cade Tyson | 3 | 6–7 | 203 |
13 | Junior | Jalen Washington | 5 | 6–10 | 230 |
0 | Junior | Seth Trimble | 2 | 6–3 | 195 |
5 | Graduate | RJ Davis | PG | 6–0 | 180 |
Eligible for fifth season | |||||
24 | Graduate | Jae’Lyn Withers | 4 | 6–9 | 215 |
Walk-ons eligible for 5th season | |||||
14 | Graduate | Creighton Lebo | PG | 6–1 | 180 |
22 | Graduate | Rob Landry | 2 | 6–4 | 190 |
Photos courtesy of FIBA