Baylor Bears forward Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua scored six points in the NCAA mens basketball Final, representing the NBA Academies.
The Baylor Bears won their first men’s basketball national championship on Monday, beating Gonzaga, 86-70, and did it with the help of NBA Academies product Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua. The Cameroonian national played 16 minutes off the bench, contributing six points (3-4 FGs), two rebounds, an assist and two steals.
He became the first NBA Academies player to appear in the NCAA Final — Francisco Caffaro was red-shirting his freshman year as part of Virginia’s 2019 squad, and did not play in their victory — and also the first to score. Center Oumar Ballo, who averaged 2.5 points and 1.5 rebounds in 6.2 minutes for Gonzaga during the regular season, wasn’t on the Bulldog’s active roster Monday.
Overall, 15 NBA Academies players participated in the 2021 men’s and women’s NCAA Tournaments, a pipeline having quickly developed following the program’s launch in 2016.