The training camp set to take place at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. begins Thursday, May 21. The 12-member team is expected to be announced before the team departs for the 2026 FIBA U18 Men’s AmeriCup schedule for June 1-7 in Leon, Mexico.

USA Basketball will open Group A play with Argentina, Brazil and Mexico at the 2026 FIBA U18 Men’s AmeriCup. The U.S. men will take on Argentina in their opening game on June 1 before facing Mexico on June 3 and closing out group play against Brazil on June 4.

Branch III, a 6-foot-7 wing from Gilbert, Ariz., represented USA Basketball at the Nike Hoop Summit in Portland, Oregon on April 11 finishing with two rebounds, two assists and a block in 13 minutes of action. He also attended Junior National Team minicamps in October and April of 2025.

The consensus five-star recruit is the No. 4 recruit in the Class of 2026 according to Rivals after finishing his prep career at Prolific Prep. He was named a Max Preps and Naismith Boys’ High School All-American Honorable Mention after averaging 18 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and two blocks per game after reclassifying.

Branch III is the second straight McDonald’s All-American to sign with the Cougars after finishing with seven points, four rebounds, two blocks and an assist in 20 minutes.

Last summer, he averaged 15.9 points and 5.2 rebounds per game while shooing 39.0 percent from 3-point range on the Adidas 3SSB circuit. He was awarded the Rising Star Award at the Adidas EuroCamp en route to being named to the All-Camp Team.

Baseball drops 2-1 decision at Texas Tech

LUBBOCK, Texas  — Pitching dominated and BYU lost Game 1 of a three-game series with Texas Tech, 2-1, on Thursday evening at Rip Griffin Park in Lubbock.

The Red Raiders (25-24, 8-17) scored two runs on six hits, while BYU (24-24, 12-13) scored its lone run on four hits. Both pitching staffs held the opposing team scoreless in all but one inning.

Starter Wayland Crane pitched 5 2/3 innings for the Cougars, allowing five hits and two runs while striking out four. Dan Brousseau added 1 2/3 inning of scoreless relief. On the other side, Kayson Raineri went five innings with three hits, one earned run and four strikeouts. Jonny Lowe handled two innings with just one hit and three strikeouts for the win and Logan Addison earned the save with two innings of hitless relief.

Luke Anderson was a bright spot for the BYU offense, going 2 for 4 with a double.

After two scoreless innings to open the game, BYU got on the scoreboard first in the top of the third with a run on two hits for a 1-0 lead.  Back-to-back singles by Ridge Erickson and Anderson, combined with a groundball to the right-side of the infield by Ezra McNaughton put both runners in scoring position with one out. A groundball to short by Ryder Robinson scored Erickson for an early Cougar lead.

After two and a half scoreless innings, Texas Tech took the lead, 2-1, on a two-run home run by Logan Hughes that would prove to be the game winner.

Men’s golf No. 4 seed at NCAA Athens Regional

INDIANAPOLIS — No. 24 men’s golf was selected to compete in the NCAA Athens Regional as a No. 4 seed at University of Georgia Golf Course from May 18-20, the NCAA announced on Wednesday afternoon.

“Based on our play this season, I feel like the 4th seed at the Athens Regional is fairly accurate,” director of golf  Todd Miller  said. “From a competition standpoint, if I could choose any regional, it would be the one we were selected to. If you’re going to win the national championship, you’ve got to go see how you stack up against the best team in the country, and we get to do it against Auburn. If the guys can play some great golf, I think we can hang with those teams which would build our confidence.”

The Athens Regional is one of six 54-hole regionals that will determine who will move on to the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship at Omni La Costa Resort in Carlsbad, California, from May 29-June 3. The top-5 teams and the low individual not on those teams from each regional will advance. This will be the Cougars’ 28th regional appearance since the format was introduced in 1989. BYU has advanced to the National Championship 33 times in program history.

The 13-team playing field alongside BYU will consist of No. 1 Auburn, No. 12 Illinois, No. 13 Vanderbilt, host Georgia, Louisville, Kansas, Northwestern, Charleston, Rice, Southern Miss, Harvard and Howard.

UGA Golf Course, Georgia’s home course, is a 7,258-yard, par 71 course with a 75.1 rating.

“Pumped for Georgia,”  Simon Kwon  said. “We are defending regional champs, so we need to go in with that mentality that we are going to win a regional. We have the opportunity to beat the best team in the country, and we are going to do everything we can do to prepare for this opportunity. We are one of the best teams in the country, and we are going to prove it to everyone else.”