The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Ovie Soko Leads Great Britain U-20s To Unprecedented Heights
7/21/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
July 21, 2010
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Ovie Soko has made quite the name for himself competing for his home country, Great Britain, in the 2010 FIBA Under 20 Men's European Championship held in Oberwart, Austria.
Behind Soko's stellar play, Great Britain is poised to earn its best-ever finish of the Division B U20 Championship.
Soko, a rising sophomore at UAB, has been the star on a Great Britain team that finished the opening two rounds with a 5-1 overall record. Britain finished the qualifying round tied for first overall with Poland and Austria; however, did not advance to the semifinals as a result of tiebreakers. The squad will now battle it out for 5th through 8th place with Portugal, Israel and Belgium.
Great Britain can still earn its top finish ever by the country's U20 team, which ended the same event 13th in 2009, 15th in 2008 and 8th in 2007 - previously the best showing by a British team heading into this year's championship.
Soko, 6-8, 225-pound forward, leads the team in scoring with 17.8 points a game, including a 29-point performance against Poland (7/20) and a 24-point outing in the tournament's opening game vs. Denmark (7/14). The London, England native also ranks second on the team in rebounds (6.3) and steals (2.5) per contest, and is third in assists a game (2.0) and total minutes played (176/29.3 per game).
Soko began the FIBA Championship in grand fashion, leading his team with 24 points and five steals in the 79-65 win over Denmark. After scoring 15 points in a loss to tournament host Austria (7/16), Soko responded by collecting a double-double with 14 points and 10 boards in a win over Belgium (7/18) in the final contest of the first round games.
Soko stayed hot in his next contest, the first of the qualifying round, with 13 points and seven boards in Britain's 87-43 trouncing of Norway on July 19. He followed that with one of the best individual performances in the entire tournament, collecting 29 points, seven rebounds and three steals in 35 minutes of action in an exciting 98-89 win over previously unbeaten Poland (7/20).
Soko then flirted with a triple-double in Britain's most recent win, an 82-66 victory over Slovak Republic on Wednesday, collecting 12 points, eight rebounds and a team-high six assists in the 16-point victory.
Soko enters the final round of play ranking among the tournament's individual leaders in points per game (5th), steals (3rd), total field goals made (6th), total field goals attempted (8th), free throws attempted (3rd) and two-point field goal percentage (58.3% - 7th).
Great Britain will take on Portugal, who finished fourth in the other qualifying division, on Friday at 8:45 am CT. (3:45 pm local time).
