STANFORD, Calif. – Rising junior Dorian Pickens will be one of 12 student-athletes from the Pac-12 representing the conference during a Pac-12 Men’s Basketball All-Star Tour of Australia in July.
As part of the Pac-12 Global initiative, the Pac-12 Conference will send an All-Star Men's Basketball Team to Melbourne, Australia for a series of cultural experiences and exhibition games against the Australia Men's National Team.
The team will participate in two games against the Australia Men's National Team - known as the Australian Boomers - in its preparation for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, as well as a third contest versus a team from the semi-professional South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL).
“This tour of Australia marks an important step forward in the Pac-12’s mission to use the power of sport to advance our schools’ reach around the world, and to give our student-athletes opportunities to learn about a new culture while playing a sport they love” said Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott.
Pickens has averaged 7.1 points in 61 career games in his first two seasons at Stanford. The forward played in all 30 games with 19 starts as sophomore last season. He finished the year with the largest increase among returning players in the Pac-12 in points per game (+10.3) from freshman season (2.0) to sophomore season (12.3). Pickens scored a career-high 25 points in 28 minutes, including 22 in the first half, in the win over USC last season. He averaged 15.5 ppg in 29.9 mpg in the final eight games of his sophomore campaign.
“It’s an extreme honor and blessing to be able to represent my University, my conference and the United States in Australia,” Pickens said. “It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity on and off the court and am grateful to be part of this experience.”
The Pac-12 All-Star Men’s Basketball Team will be coached by former Stanford head coach Mike Montgomery, a four-time Conference Coach of the Year and 2016 College Basketball Hall of Fame inductee.
Montgomery, who ranks 21st in NCAA Division I history with 676 career victories in 32 seasons as head coach, will be joined on the coaching staff by former Stanford All-Americans Brevin Knight and Casey Jacobsen, and fellow former Cardinal head coach Trent Johnson. The staff will lead a three-day training camp in Los Angeles from July 5-7 before the group embarks on the tour from July 9-14.
The six-day tour will also provide student-athletes the opportunity to experience Australian culture, visit historic landmarks, and engage in off-the-court activities in the country's second-most populous city.
Game dates are slated for Sunday, July 10 (vs. SEABL team), Tuesday, July 12 (vs. Australia MNT), and Thursday, July 14 (vs. Australia MNT). All three games will be held at Hisense Arena, a 10,500-seat venue that serves as the home of Melbourne United, the city's franchise in the professional National Basketball League (NBL). The group will then return to the U.S. on July 15.
Pickens will be joined on the Pac-12 Men’s Basketball All-Star Team by Kadeem Allen (Arizona), Chance Comanche (Arizona), Tra Holder (Arizona State), Stephen Domingo (California), Wesley Gordon (Colorado), Drew Eubanks (Oregon State), Stephen Thompson Jr. (Oregon State), Jordan McLaughlin (USC), Lorenzo Bonam (Utah), Matisse Thybulle (Washington), Josh Hawkinson (Washington State).