Maynard to play in World University Games

Men's basketball sophomore guard Corey Maynard to represent Australia at 26th World University Games

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Bryant University men's basketball sophomore Corey Maynard (Adelaide, Australia) will represent his native Australia at this summer's 26th World University Games, to be held August 13-23 in Shenzhen, China.

More than 8,000 athletes from around the globe take part in the World University Games, the second-biggest worldwide sporting event behind only the Olympics. The biennial tournament spans 24 different sports and is open to men and women between the ages of 17 and 24 who are, or have been in the past year, college and university students. 

Maynard was selected among the team's final 12 players from a pool of 20 future Aussie stars invited to Team Australia's selection camp July 3-6. The youngest member of the team, Maynard joins other collegiate players from the likes of Oregon State, St. Mary's, St. Louis, Valparaiso, Santa Clara and Old Dominion, among other American Division I schools.

"We are very proud of Corey for earning a spot in this prestigious event," said Bryant head coach Tim O'Shea. "We look forward to following Corey and the Australian team's progress throughout the tournament and wish them the best of luck."

Maynard, a 6-foot-3 guard who appeared in all 30 games his freshman year for the Bulldogs, averaged 4.7 points per game and dished out 75 assists while seeing over 22 minutes per outing in 2010-11. An strong and athletic shooter, he finished the year shooting better than 38 percent from the floor and 35 percent from long range. Maynard added 20 steals and five starts to an impressive rookie campaign.

Team Australia will play in a six-game World University Games warm-up tournament in China where the team will take on squads from China, Montenegro and Turkey before kicking off the main event.

First played in 1965, the 2011 World University Games will feature 24 teams competing in the men's basketball round robin-style tournament. Australia will compete in Group B along with defending champion Serbia, Turkey, Canada, Hong Kong and South Africa. The US is in Group D with Israel, Finland, South Korea, Hungary and Mexico. The top two teams from each of the four six-team groups will advance to play for first through eighth place, while the third and fourth group finishers will move on to vie for places nine through 16. The bottom two teams in each bracket will compete for the final six places in the tournament.