The inaugural GLOBL JAM event taking place this week in Toronto was created with a couple of primary goals in mind: Give young Canadian basketball talent a chance to play some of the world's top competition. And let them do it at home.
The showcase tournament, created by Sportsnet and Canada Basketball, will feature international under-23 women’s and men’s teams and runs from Tuesday through Sunday at the Mattamy Athletic Centre. You can watch every game live on Sportsnet and SN NOW.
The main event is GLOBL JAM FIVES, a pair of five-on-five tournaments featuring men’s and women’s teams from around the world. Each team will play three games in round-robin play before being seeded for the semifinals on Saturday. The semifinal winners will then clash for the gold medals on Sunday.
On the men’s side, Canada will face the United States, Brazil and Italy, while the United States, Belgium and France will be the Canadian women's competition. As games conclude, standings for the tournament can be found here.
FULL SCHEDULE
Tuesday, July 5
• 11 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. PT – Women’s Round Robin: USA vs. France (Sportsnet, SN NOW)
• 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT – Men’s Round Robin: USA vs. Italy (Sportsnet, SN NOW)
• 6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT – Women’s Round Robin: Belgium vs. Canada (Sportsnet, SN NOW)
• 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT – Men’s Round Robin: Brazil vs. Canada (SN ONE, SN NOW)
Wednesday, July 6
• 11 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. PT – Women’s Round Robin: France vs. Belgium (Sportsnet, SN NOW)
• 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT – Men’s Round Robin: Italy vs. Brazil (SN ONE, SN NOW)
• 6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT – Women’s Round Robin: Canada vs. USA (SN ONE, SN NOW)
• 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT – Men’s Round Robin: Canada vs. USA (Sportsnet, SN ONE, SN NOW)
Thursday, July 7
• 11 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. PT – Women’s Round Robin: USA vs. Belgium (Sportsnet, SN NOW)
• 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT – Men’s Round Robin: USA vs. Brazil (Sportsnet, SN NOW)
• 6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT – Women’s Round Robin: Canada vs. France (SN ONE, SN 360, SN NOW)
• 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT – Men’s Round Robin: Canada vs. Italy (SN 360, SN NOW)
Saturday, July 9
• 11 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. PT – Women’s Semifinal No. 1 (Sportsnet, SN NOW)
• 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT – Men’s Semifinal No. 1 (Sportsnet, SN NOW)
• 6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT – Women’s Semifinal No. 2 (Sportsnet, SN NOW)
• 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT – Men’s Semifinal No. 2 (SN ONE, SN NOW)
Sunday, July 10
• 3:30 p.m. ET / 12:30 p.m. PT – Women’s Championship Final (SN ONE, SN NOW)
• 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT – Men’s Championship Final (Sportsnet, SN ONE, SN 360, SN NOW)
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT CANADA'S ROSTERS
Canada's women's roster is filled with talent that has previous experience at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games, FIBA Women's AmeriCup, NCAA level and other international experience. The group includes Shy Day-Wilson, Aaliyah Edwards, Shaina Pellington, Merissah Russell, Tara Wallack, LaShae Dwyer, Yvonne Ejim, Taya Hanson, Phillipina Kyei, Latasha Lattimore, Rosalie Mercille and Sarah Te-Biasu.
Day-Wilson is coming off a historic freshman season with Duke, winning ACC Freshman of the Year, averaging a team-high 12.7 points and 3.7 assists per game — which earned her All-ACC Freshman honours during the season.
Edwards is also coming off a sophomore season with UConn which saw the Huskies make it to the national championship, and won Big East Sixth-Woman of the Year as well as earning Big East All-Tournament team honours.
Head coach Carly Clarke won the U SPORTS national title with Toronto Metropolitan University, leading the team to a 17-0 record during the regular season en route winning the OUA championship for the first time since 2016. The U SPORTS win marked the first national title in program history.
On the men's side, the team consists of Ryan Nembhard, Keeshawn Barthelemy, Charles Bediako, Marcus Carr, Quincy Guerrier, Kur Jongkuch, Thomas Kennedy, Liam McChesney, Emanuel Miller, Leonard Miller, Addison Patterson and Stefan Smith. The group is coached by Nathaniel Mitchell.
Point guard Nembhard of Creighton will suit up for Canada after winning Big East Freshman of the Year and was unanimously selected to the Big East All-Freshman team, averaging 11.3 points and 4.4 assists per game.
Leonard Miller recently made headlines when he withdrew from recruiting to join the NBA's G League Ignite program — after being named the No. 43 prospect in the ESPN 100 with interest from schools like Kentucky and Arizona, and averaging over 30 points per game as he won the OBSA championship.
MORE FROM SPORTSNET
CELEBRATING BASKETBALL
While the GLOBL JAM FIVES is the headliner, it's only a fraction of the events basketball fans can catch in Toronto from now until Sunday.
Canada's best three-on-three players will show off their skills in the men's and women's elite division 3X3 Canada Quest Finals, a pair of 12-team tournaments taking place on July 8 and 9 at Yonge-Dundas Square.
At stake in that event is a spot in either the FIBA three-on-three World Tour (in Montreal this September) or the FIBA three-on-three Challenger (in Edmonton), and a cash prize reward for each winning team.
The festivities officially tipped off on Monday with the GLOBL JAM Jumpstart Legacy Day at Regent Park Athletic Grounds, where Canada Basketball teamed up with multiple partners to donate six $10,000 grants toward growing the game of basketball.
Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities and Canada Basketball will deliver the first three donations to the National Basketball Youth Mentorship Program, the Saskatoon Public Schools Foundation and All My Relations — a Vancouver-based initiative encouraging space for Indigenous women to get involved in their community.
The other three will be delivered in partnership with Sun Life Financial, and go to the Muslim Women’s Summer Basketball League, Pour 3 Points of Quebec and Variety — The Children’s Charity of Ontario/Variety Village.
As part of the objective of growing the sport at all levels, the GLOBL JAM FESTIVAL presented by Tangerine Bank at Yonge-Dundas Square will run from Friday till Sunday, celebrating the intersection of sport, art, and culture with a three-on-three community court, a vendor market, food trucks, music and more.
There's also the Superfan & Friends Charity three-on-three game taking place at Yonge-Dundas Square on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET, hosted by Canada Basketball Global Community Ambassador and Toronto Raptors Superfan, Nav Bhatia.
The game features Olympian Miranda Ayim and Raptors community ambassador Jamaal Magloire serving as coaches, while rosters include notable names such as K Showtime, Max Kerman, Karl Wolf and Sportsnet personalities Emily Agard, Donnovan Bennett, Caroline Cameron and Blake Murphy, among many other Toronto icons.
Finally, ahead of Sunday's gold medal games will be the Legends Brunch, where the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame will induct both the 2021 and 2022 classes in partnership with SLAM Canada at Ricarda's Restaurant in downtown Toronto.
The inductees are players Stewart Granger, Steve Nash, Angela (Johnson) Straub, Rick Fox and Tony Simms, coach Michèle Bélanger and builder John Bitove. All of the inductees will also be recognized at the GLOBL JAM FIVES gold medal games.
COMMENTS
When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.