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Tennessean Reports: Riley LaChance Earns a Tryout With Team USA

Riley LaChance was a four-time SEC Freshman of the Week, but he'll have the opportunity to add an even bigger honor to his resume this summer. The Commodore guard will have the chance to try out for Team USA in June.

By Christian D'Andrea

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Beth Hall-USA TODAY Sports

Adam Sparks broke some big news this afternoon; Commodore guard Riley LaChance will get a chance to represent his country on the basketball court.

The rising sophomore earned a tryout with the country's Under-19 national team. If he can earn one of the team's 12 coveted roster spots in June, he'll move on to play in the FIBA World Championship in Greece. Here's what Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings told Sparks about the honor:

USA Basketball just has a good pulse of what guys do during the season. They come up with a pretty comprehensive list of guys to invite. We didn't campaign for it, but they invited Riley to the tryout.

"It's a great recognition of what Riley accomplished in his freshman year. He earned it.

- Kevin Stallings, to the Tennessean's Adam Sparks.

The United States won the last U-19 World Championship in 2013 behind the play of NBA prospects like Aaron Gordon, Jahlil Okafor, and Marcus Smart. They didn't lose a single game in the tournament.

If selected, LaChance will get the opportunity to play under some of the best coaches in the NCAA. The team is led by Florida's Billy Donovan. His assistants are Providence's Ed Cooley and Arizona's Sean Miller. Cooley and LaChance could be an especially interesting team; the Vandy guard will have to handle more minutes at the point in 2015-16 and the Friar coach helped mold Kris Dunn into one of the best floor generals in the country last season.

LaChance scored 12.5 points per game in his first season in Nashville and earned SEC Freshman of the Week honors four times. His 429 points were third all-time for a Commodore freshman.

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