Washington sophomore-to-be Nikola Dzepina is coming home from Eurobasket U20 with a spot among the tournament’s best.
Dzepina was named to the FIBA U20 Eurobasket All-Star Five after helping Serbia reach Sunday’s title game in Ljubljana. He was selected alongside Slovenia guard Urban Kroflic, Kroflic’s teammate Mark Padjen, Raul Villar of Spain and Mohamed Diakite of France. Kroflic missed the final because of injury.
Serbia fell to host Slovenia 84-65 in the championship game, and Dzepina had one of his quietest scoring nights of the event. He finished with 10 points on 3-11 shooting, including 1-6 from three-point range, while adding 9 rebounds, 3 assists and a block in more than 27 minutes.
Still, the bigger picture was strong throughout the tournament. Dzepina, who turns 20 on July 31, averaged 13.9 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.3 assists and nearly two blocks per game over Serbia’s six-game run to the final. He shot 47.8 percent from the field, 32 percent from deep on 8-25 shooting and 78.1 percent at the foul line.
His best statistical game came in Serbia’s opener against Poland, when he posted his only double-double of the tournament: 21 points and 13 rebounds in 25 minutes.
He scored in double figures in six of Serbia’s seven games. The lone exception came when he had 8 points in a 20-point win over Italy that sent Serbia into the quarterfinals. From there, Serbia beat Greece 92-66, and Dzepina answered with 14 points on 5-11 shooting, including 3-6 from beyond the arc.
In the semifinal, Serbia topped Spain 72-65, and Dzepina delivered what was probably his most complete performance. He played 29 minutes, scored 12 points on 4-8 shooting, and added five rebounds, four assists, one steal and five blocks.
The 6-foot-10 forward from Belgrade joined Washington last December and appeared in 14 games off the bench for the Huskies. He shot .302 from the field, .250 from three and averaged 2.6 points in limited minutes.
Now he heads into a season where Washington expects him to matter. Dzepina is projected to compete for playing time with Mady Traore and Lathan Sommerville, while two other international additions, Wini Braga of Brazil and Boris Tišma of Croatia, are also set to battle for frontcourt minutes.
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