Standout first-year guard Xaivian Lee participated in the Canada Basketball Men’s High-Performance U19 National Team Assessment Camp this past weekend in Toronto.
Lee entered the camp as one of 46 invites who hoped to make the final roster that will represent Canada at the biannual International Basketball Federation (FIBA) U19 Basketball World Cup in June. Now, after 26 players were cut throughout the weekend, Lee is one of 20 players still being considered for the team. In the most recent World Cup held in 2021, Canada placed third.
Lee was “pleasantly surprised” to receive the invite, but confident in his ability to compete for a spot on the final roster.
“I’d never really played with Canada Basketball before — I was never really on their radar,” he told The Daily Princetonian. While many of the other invites had spent significant time with the national program, Lee had only attended one provincial talent identification camp when he was younger, where he was cut after the first day.
“When I was younger, I didn’t really have that type of exposure, so for me to not have grown up in the system like most of the guys there, it was unusual,” he added.
“It definitely means a lot,” Lee said about the invite. “Putting Canada on your chest, that’s something I’ve dreamt about since I was a little kid.”
As a Toronto native, Lee knows what basketball means to the area.
“When people think of Toronto and Canada, they think of hockey, but to be honest, where I was from, there was a big importance placed on basketball. Everywhere you go there’s people always playing outside,” Lee told the ‘Prince.’
Lee averaged 4.8 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 0.9 assists in 13.4 minutes per game for the Princeton men’s basketball team this season. He also earned an Ivy League Rookie of the Week award in November. He feels as though his time with Princeton basketball has prepared him for this opportunity.
“Just playing at the Division I level, especially playing in the Ivy League where there’s a lot of emphasis on system … that’s really helped me mature as a basketball player,” said Lee.
“Playing with guys that are older, Mush (junior guard Matt Allocco), Borg (senior guard Ryan Langborg), just learning from them has really made me a more well-rounded player, and to take that home [to the camp] against guys who are my age, I think it’s definitely prepared me well to succeed at the U19 level.”
Lee was crucial in the Tigers’ run to an Ivy League championship. In the Ivy Madness semifinal game against the Penn Quakers, he connected on two free throws with eight seconds remaining to ice the game for the Tigers.
With the Tigers losing senior starters — forward Tosan Evbuomwan, forward Keeshawn Kellman, and Langborg — to graduation, Lee hopes to add leadership to the team next year.
“The biggest thing I’m trying to work on is my communication and being a leader because I feel like we’re losing a lot of that next year,” he told the ‘Prince.’ “I want to be able to step up and help us be this good again next year.”
If he makes the final roster, Lee will be traveling with the team in May to begin preparing for the World Cup in June. The World Cup will be hosted in Debrecen, Hungary at the Olah Gabor and Főnix Arenas.
Diego Uribe is an assistant editor for Sports and contributor for News at the ‘Prince.’
Please direct any corrections requests to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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