Former Huskies Niels Giffey and Gavin Edwards to play in Tokyo Olympics

We know that UConn women’s basketball will be well-represented in this year’s Tokyo Olympics, with 10 players across multiple rosters including the United States, Canada, and France. This year, the UConn men’s team will also have two alumni in the Olympic games.

Niels Giffey’s Germany team qualified for Tokyo by winning a FIBA qualifying tournament on Sunday and Gavin Edwards was named to the squad for Japan.

Germany’s win came in the finals of the FIBA tournament in Split, Croatia, where they ousted Brazil to make their first Olympics since 2008. Orlando Magic forward Moritz Wagner was their leading scorer in that game with 28 points. Giffey scored eight points in 23 minutes, pretty close to his tournament averages of 6.5 ppg and 21 mpg.

Japan is making its first Olympic appearance in men’s basketball since 1976, qualifying automatically as the host country. Alongside Washington Wizards’ first-round pick Rui Hachimura and former George Washington star Yuta Watanabe, Gavin Edwards is on the team in the lone naturalized player spot. Edwards is a star for the Chiba Jets in the domestic league.

In addition to Giffey and Edwards, former UConn field hockey star Róisín Upton (Ireland) is the 13th former Husky participating in this year’s Summer Olympics.