Pace basketball player Bryan Rivers finished his tour of Italy as a point guard for the 2016 USA East Coast Basketball team this August.

The New Jersey native averaged 12.8 points and a team-high 3.5 assists per game.

“I was definitely honored to represent the United States this summer,” said Rivers.”It was an incredible experience.”

Playing in Italy has been a goal for Rivers as he sees playing overseas basketball as a dream of his after graduation.

“When I came into Pace I always had the goal of playing basketball overseas,” said Rivers. “It is a goal of mine when I graduate.”

Rivers’ glimpse of his dream was a positive one as he learned from both his teammates and his opponents.

“Playing in Europe was great because I was able to understand other players styles and techniques,” said Rivers. “It was definitely a great learning experience.”

Rivers had the opportunity to play against players from all over the world, including Puerto Rico and France.  Rivers said that the most important lesson learned from his playing time was his assessment of the talent of his competition and himself.

“Other countries like Puerto Rico and France all did different things, so I got to see where my skill levels were,” said Rivers. “It was definitely helpful to see where my skills are compared to others.”

Rivers also got to see the skills of his teammates. Rivers was the only Division II player on the team, with the rest of the team consisting of players from top Division I schools such as Notre Dame, Seton Hall, Iowa, Southern Methodist, and West Virginia.

“Playing alongside different players is always exciting,” said Rivers. “You can definitely find out a lot about yourself as a player.”

Rivers said that his performance overall on the court was good as he was not intimidated by playing with players from big schools or other countries.

“I have been playing against top players my entire life, so this was nothing new.” Rivers said.

Rivers says that he hopes to “transfer what he learned in Italy” to Pace for this upcoming season. He also says that in Italy, being a point guard put him in a leadership position and his experience guiding other players helped prepare him to be a stronger leader on the court.

“I had to talk and communicate with players that I was not familiar playing with,” said Rivers.”That really helped my job as the leader and I hope that will progress heading into this season.”