Volunteer Country

Tobe Awaka Caps Off Run With Team USA

The United States fell to Turkey in the bronze medal game, though Tennessee Volunteers forward Tobe Awaka turned in another productive outing.

Will Hopkins

Tobe Awaka Caps Off Run With Team USA
Tobe Awaka Caps Off Run With Team USA /
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The United States will return home from Hungary without a medal as they fell to Turkey 84-70 in Saturday’s bronze medal game in the 2023 Fiba Men’s Under-19 World Cup. Tennessee forward Tobe Awaka logged his most minutes of the tournament and the most of any US player in the game with just over 30, but in his extended playing time, he was not his sharpest. 

He scored just seven points, his second-lowest of the seven games in the tournament. He was 3-for-8 from the field and split his two attempts from the free-throw line. He did perform as usual on the glass, though, grabbing 13 rebounds, five of which were offensive. Awaka added a steal, as well.

Tennessee F Tobe Awaka
Tennessee F Tobe Awaka

Despite the tough losses in the last two games, the tournament was undoubtedly a positive overall for Tobe Awaka. He showed Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes what he could do, and now coming into his sophomore year, it is fair to assume that he will see a boat in playing time from the 10 minutes per game that he saw as a freshman, especially with Julian Phillips departing for the draft. Overall for the tournament, Tobe Awaka averaged a double-double with 11.6 points and 10.6 rebounds. He shot 60% from the field and 65.2% from the charity stripe. Each of these percentages were boosted from what we saw from the forward last season at Tennessee, and hopefully, the improvements continue into next season.

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Will Hopkins
WILL HOPKINS