Prince Rupert basketball prodigy accepts invite to Team Canada event

Prince Rupert basketball phenom Liam McChesney has accepted an invitation to a Team Canada training camp ahead of the 2022 GLOBL JAM Fives tournament in Toronto.

Basketball Canada announced McChesney is one of 22 U23 men’s athletes invited to attend the training session ahead of the tournament, featuring men’s and women’s teams from around the globe.

Training camp runs from June 24 to July 4, with the GLOBL JAM tourney tipping off with Canada against Brazil in a round-robin preliminary format, on July 5.

The six-foot-10 McChesney started his basketball career leading the Charles Hays Rainmakers to the 2019 provincial 2A high school boys championship. He averaged 35 points and eight assists as a senior, earning MVP honours at the B.C. tournament. He was a three-star recruit out of high school by 247 Sports and the top high school prospect in Canada as a senior, his Illinois State Redbirds player biography reads.

READ MORE: Rainmaker McChesney commits to Utah State University

He played 32 games for the Redbirds in 2021-2022 with eight starts as a transfer from Utah State University (his second season ended with a leg injury after just three games.

The forward averaged 17.3 minutes per game while scoring 4.5 points for the Redbirds.

He had the second-most blocked shots on the team at 30, with 14 assists and 100 rebounds.

According to his bio, he “made 49-of-116 (42.2 per cent) of his shots from the field, 15-of-49 (30.6 per cent) from long range, and 81.6 per cent (31-of-38) from the free-throw line … His 0.9 blocked shots per game ended the season as the seventh-highest total in the MVC during the season … Scored in double-figures six times during the season, including a season-high 19 points on January 29 at UNI … Added 16 points at home against Valparaiso on Feb. 9, and 13 against UNI on March 4 in the MVC Tournament’s second round … Pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds against Valparaiso for his lone career double-double … Blocked four shots in his Redbird debut against UNCW on Nov. 9.”

McChesney was also a member of the 2017 Canadian U17 national team and a member of the pool for the same team a year earlier while still only a sophomore in high school.