Ireland head coach Michael Bree has named six uncapped players in his final 12-man squad for an upcoming friendly with Armenia in Los Angeles on Sunday June 28th, as well as FIBA EuroBasket 2029 Pre-Qualifiers against North Macedonia and Azerbaijan in Skopje and Baku on July 2nd and July 5th.
Among them are Kerry’s Leeroy Odiahi (Western Kentucky, USA) & Aivaras Uosis (Carsen Newman University, USA). Ben Stevens (Alliance Montreal), Declan Gbinigie (Titans BC), Tiernan Stynes (Quincy University, USA) and Victor Okojie (UMass Lowell, USA) could also all make their senior debuts if they take to the floor against the Armenians in Los Angeles.
It’s the second time Ireland will face Armenia in LA, following a 92-91defeat in the Los Angeles International Basketball Cup two years ago. “The game against Armenia is a great opportunity for a new look group to gel against a tough opponent and put their hand up for the games against North Macedonia and Azerbaijan,” said head coach Michael Bree.
“It’s a very new group when you add Sean (Fitzpatrick) and Max (Amadasun) – who have only been with us for a couple of windows – so it’s important Sean (Flood), Adrian (O’Sullivan) and Sam (Alajiki) to keep driving the standards we’ve been working to achieve during the current qualifying campaign.”
“There’s plenty of exciting talent in the squad, so I’m looking forward to getting to work with them and seeing how quickly we can put things together. Our aim as always is to pick up wins, so we’re focused on doing that starting with Armenia on Saturday night,” he added.
6’10 centre Ben Stevens averaged 11.5 points per game, along with 8.9 rebounds and 1.2 assists in his most recent season with Alliance Montreal in the Canadian Elite Basketball League. He has previously had stints in North Macedonia with Vada, German Pro A team Koblenz and Australia’s NBL with South West Slammers and Central Coast Crusaders.
Uosis, Gbinigie, Stynes and Okojie have all come through the Basketball Ireland Pathway Programme, most recently featuring for the Ireland U20 MNT in the last two seasons, while Leeroy Odiahi is also a former U18 and U20 international who appeared in 30 games for Western Kentucky during the 2025/26 NCAA season.
“There’s a lot of new faces in the squad, but it just shows the depth that we are building and it’s always exciting as a player to see these guys who have been performing at U18 and U20 level come into the squad,” said Ireland captain Sean Flood ahead of the window. “From a leadership perspective I’ll be doing my best along with Adrian and Sam to get the lads up to speed on expectations of an Irish senior international and hopefully put ourselves in a good position to pick up as many wins as possible.”
The Ireland squad will assemble on Wednesday, before departing to Los Angeles on Thursday morning, before travelling to Skopje for their first FIBA EuroBasket 2029 Pre-Qualifier of the window against North Macedonia on Thursday, July 2nd.
Ireland currently sit in fourth place in Group A with a 1-3 record, following a 76-75 defeat to Azerbaijan and a 91-85 win over Luxembourg in our previous window in March.
Ireland Men’s Squad
Max Amadasun (Cultural Y Deportiva Leonesa, SPA), Rapolas Buivydas (Belfast Star), Sean Flood (Heroes Den Bosch, NED), Sean Fitzpatrick (UCD Marian), Sam Alajiki (Giorgio Tesi Group Pistona, ITA), Declan Gbinigie (Titans BC), Aivaras Uosis (Carsen Newman University, USA), Ben Stevens (Alliance Monteral, CAN), Adrian O’Sullivan (Ballincollig BC), Tiernan Stynes (Quincy University, USA), Leeroy Odiahi (Western Kentucky, USA), Victor Okojie (UMass Lowell, USA).
Ireland’s women’s 3×3 team reached the quarter-finals of their FIBA 3×3 Women’s Series in Amsterdam, losing out to hosts and eventual champions Netherlands 21-7 in the last eight on Sunday.
The team featuring Hazel Finn, Maura Fitzpatrick, Abigail Rafferty and Sarah Hickey, finished second in Group C, as Ireland secured a quarter-final place for the first time in FIBA 3×3 Women’s Series.
They began the tournament with an impressive 15-7 win over Belgium on Saturday, led by Fitzpatrick’s five points and five rebounds. They were narrowly defeated 15-13 by Beijing, who came into the competition ranked fourth. Ireland stayed close throughout the match, as Rafferty dominated the paint with nine rebounds, but the Chinese team narrowly defeated Ireland 15-13.
The Netherlands awaited Ireland in the quarter-finals, the Dutch claimed a bronze medal in Orléans in the previous FIBA 3×3 Women’s Series event and were the topped ranked side in the competition as the defending champions. Ireland played solid defence at the start of their contest and added to this with points from Fitzpatrick and Hickey. The Dutch pulled clear thanks to a nine point contribution from Lutje Schipholt, to secure a 21-7 victory.
Ireland had come into the Amsterdam tournament as the seventh-ranked team, qualifying for the group stage automatically, courtesy of their performances the FIBA 3×3 Women’s Series in Orléans, France earlier in the week, where they picked up two wins in their qualifying games to make the group stage.
Ireland began with a commanding 20-10 win against Slovakia in Orléans, followed by a 15-14 win against Prague. Hazel Finn starred for Ireland, scoring 15 points over the two games, earning Ireland a place in Pool C of the main draw, alongside heavyweights Spain and Italy.
Sarah Hickey put up four points and two rebounds against Spain, but the third-ranked team pulled away from Ireland to win 16-12. Ireland led number 12 ranked Italy 16-11 with one minute on the clock in their final group game, only for the Italians to turn the screw and escape with a 17-16 victory, leading Ireland to narrowly miss out on the quarter-finals of the event in France.
Reflecting on an impressive week, Ireland 3×3 women’s head coach, Niamh Dwyer, said: “It’s been amazing week and I could not be prouder of the girls. They bounced back from the disappointment of losing in the final of our FIBA Europe Cup qualifiers, to pick up our first ever wins in the FIBA 3×3 Women’s Series, in Orléans. Then to follow up with a win over Belgium on Saturday in Amersterdam to help us secure historic quarter-final, is testament to how far we’ve come. We came up against the defending champions and eventual winners in their own back yard and the girls did brilliantly against the Netherlands.”
Ireland will return to FIBA 3×3 Women’s Series action on July 1st and 2nd, when they travel to Bucharest, Romania.
Dwyer added: “These last few weeks will give us great confidence and I’m looking forward to building on that next month when we go to Bucharest. We’ve set our standards now and we’ll be targeting wins and the knockout stages.”
