TORONTO — Canada’s men’s basketball team will play five of the world’s top-15 ranked teams in a European tour this summer.
The 25th-ranked Canadians will play 11 exhibition games between July 24 and Aug. 12. Among the teams they’ll face are No. 2 Spain, Turkey (7), Serbia (11), Slovenia (13) and Angola (15).
"I’m looking forward to getting the team together for what will be a summer of development and growth," said head coach Jay Triano. "Getting more international experience will be key — we want to provide our players with quality in-game experience against some of the world’s top talent."
Triano will gather the team for a training camp July 20-22 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto prior to flying to Europe.
Canada’s men’s team didn’t qualify for the 2014 world championships. The team’s next major international competitions will be the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto followed by the FIBA Americas qualifying tournament for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
"This summer is an important step in the development of the SMNT for its goal of reaching Rio 2016," Triano said.
The camp roster will be announced next month.
