University of Louisville women’s basketball has been selected to represent the United States at the 2021 World University Games, which will be played August 18-29 in Chengdu, China.
“We are extremely excited that our team will get an opportunity to represent the United States in the World University Games,” Louisville head coach Jeff Walz said. “One of the joys of my coaching career has been representing the United States, and I am thrilled that our entire team will get to experience that next summer. This will be a tremendous opportunity for everyone involved with our program, and we can’t wait to play on an international stage against the world’s best teams.”
The World University Games are held every two years, and Louisville will become the fourth collegiate program to play for the United States, joining UNC Charlotte (2009), Maryland (2017) and Mississippi State (2019). Beside those four occurrences, the United States has been represented by the national team in the World University Games.
Louisville was chosen to represent the United States in the 2021 World University Games by the United States International University Sports Federation (US-IUSF).
“We are thrilled to have Louisville and Coach Walz represent the United States at the 2021 World University Games,” said Nels Hawkinson, the USA Team Deputy Head of Delegation.
Walz was named 2019 USA Basketball National Coach of the Year after leading the USA U19 team to a perfect 7-0 record and a gold medal at the 2019 FIBA U19 World Cup in Bangkok, Thailand.
This will mark his seventh coaching assignment overall representing the USA. Prior to the 2019 USA U19 team, he led the 2018 USA U18 team to a gold medal in Mexico City and the 2017 USA U23 team to a 3-0 record and a tournament title at the Four Nations U24 Tournament in Tokyo. He also helped USA Basketball to gold medals as an assistant coach for the 2014 USA U18 and 2015 USA U19 national teams and served as a court coach at the 2017 USA National Team training camp.
Olivia Cochran, Dana Evans, Mykasa Robinson and Hailey Van Lith have previously competed for Team USA.
Evans was a member of the 2016 USA U18 National Team that captured the gold medal with a 5-0 record at the FIBA Americas U18 Championship. She then took part in trials for the 2017 USA U19 World Cup team and trials for the 2019 U.S. Pan American Games.
Cochran and Van Lith competed together in leading the USA to a gold medal at the 2019 FIBA 3×3 U18 World Cup in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Van Lith was also a member of Walz’s 2019 USA U19 World Cup Team that captured the gold medal with a 74-70 overtime victory over Australia. She started all seven games and averaged 9.1 points and 2.3 assists.
Robinson represented Louisville at the 2019 USA Basketball Women’s 3×3 National Championship in Las Vegas.
Louisville will compete in the 31st FISU Summer World University Games, which will be the first world-class sports event played in western China. Chengdu is the capital of the Sichuan Province and one of the three most populous cities in western China, with a population of more than nine million.
The United States began competing at the World University Games in 1965. Women’s Basketball is one of 18 sports in which America will compete against more than 10,000 athletes from around the globe.
Packages for fans to travel with the team to the 31st World University Games will be announced at a later date.
