WASHINGTON — Coaches from Kentucky, North Carolina, Missouri, UConn and Syracuse reached out to Kuran Iverson during the days leading up to the Nike Global Challenge to let him know he would be on their radar at the event.
Unfortunately, they all had to wait a day to see Iverson’s debut because he missed Team USA East’s first game against China on Friday while taking care of his summer school obligations.
The 6-foot-9 Iverson is leaving his native Connecticut where he attended Hartford Northwest Catholic and transitioning to Fishburne (Va.) Military Academy, according to Andre Harrington, Iverson’s mentor.
Iverson was not a huge factor in his first two games Saturday, either, managing just 9 points and 5 rebounds to go with 6 turnovers in a loss to Canada that was witnessed by virtually every major college coach in the country.
USA East followed that with a loss to Brazil in which Iverson tallied just 2 points, 5 rebounds and 4 turnovers.
“After Brazil, everybody just went down [mentally] because we knew we was supposed to get that win,” Iverson told SNY.tv Sunday.
But he saved his best for last, tallying 19 points on 8-for-14 shooting with 3 rebounds in USA East’s 93-91 win over Lithuania in the fifth-place game Sunday at the D.C. Armory.
“I feel like I played good against Canada but this was my best game,” Iverson said.
“I was just telling everybody to keep their heads up, play hard because we haven’t been winning, so everyone’s down so I tried to keep the team up. I kept myself up in doing that.”
Iverson is a bit of a mystery. He can be turnover-prone and tends to play on the perimeter instead of taking the ball to the basket and being aggressive inside.
Yet as the last game showed, he can also be a force inside and out if he puts his mind to it.
His recruitment remains in flux but Iverson said “Florida called me a lot and Oklahoma State and Indiana called. Syracuse and UConn are on the list.”
Iverson said Kentucky texted him once, and Harrington said North Carolina and Missouri have also reached out.
As for Indiana, Iverson said, “I’ll take a visit but I don’t know too much about Indiana.”
Long Island Lightning coach Shandue McNeill said Iverson will cut his list later this summer.
“After all this we’ll cut a list and see what make sense,” he said.
