Henare names 23-strong squad for November Qualifiers against Korea, Hong Kong
WELLINGTON (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Asian Qualifiers) - New Zealand coach Paul Henare has included 10 of the 12 players that impressed at the FIBA Asia Cup and numerous seasoned campaigners.
WELLINGTON (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Asian Qualifiers) - New Zealand coach Paul Henare has included 10 of the 12 players that impressed at the FIBA Asia Cup and also many of the seasoned campaigners that he gave the summer off in the Tall Blacks' expanded 23-man list for next month's World Cup Qualifiers.
@TallBlacks squad just named ahead of @FIBA World Cup Qualifiers tipping off 23 Nov. #FIBAWC #TallBlacks More here: https://t.co/APOOtCaRzU pic.twitter.com/6et8MPvaTm
— Tall Blacks (@TallBlacks) October 30, 2017
The Kiwis will square off against Korea in Wellington on November 23 and then play at Hong Kong three days later.
Veterans included and expected to play are Ratiopharm Ulm power forward Isaac Fotu, Fraport Skylner guard Tai Webster and his older brother, Corey Webster, of Israeli side Ironi Nahariya.
| New Zealand squad ahead of FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Qualifiers against Korea and Hong Kong | |||
| Tom Abercrombie | Luke Aston | Quinn Clinton | Joe Cook-Green |
| Finn Delany | Dan Fotu | Isaac Fotu | James Hunter |
| Shea Ili | Michael Karena | Jarod Kenny | Dyson King-Hawea |
| Rob Loe | Tohi Smith-Milner | Mitchell Newton | Jordan Ngatai |
| Alex Pledger | Derone Raukawa | Ethan Rusbatch | Reuben Te Rangi |
| Mika Vukona | Corey Webster | Tai Webster | |
The majority of the players in the squad are based with clubs Down Under, like Shea Ili, the Tall Blacks point guard that made the All-Star Five at the Asia Cup, as well as linchpins and Ili's fellow SKYCITY Breakers, Mika Vukona and Thomas Abercrombie.
Isaac Letoa and Sam Timmins were in the Tall Blacks' Asia Cup squad but are not included as they compete with Dartmouth and Washington State, respectively, in American college basketball. Highly-rated Tai Wynyard, who played for the Kentucky Wildcats, is also not in the squad.
In addition to taking on Korea and Hong Kong in the First Round, the Tall Blacks will go up against World Cup hosts China. They will not meet, however, until the start of the second window of Qualifiers on February 23, with that game in the Far East.
FIBA