Olivier Nkamhoua representing Finland national team during FIBA World Cup

It's an honor that Michigan forward Olivier Nkamhoua takes great pride in. He, and the Finland national team, are headed to Okinawa, Japan in late August to participate in the FIBA World Cup.

After a quick pitstop in Ann Arbor to familiarize himself with his new program and also participate in a handful of practices, Nkamhoua is headed home to Helsinki to prepare for the World Cup and spend some time with his family.

Playing for the U-16 team with Finland in 2016, he played with the national team the past two summers but will be playing the most significant games of his national team career in the coming weeks.

Playing with professionals and people who have similar paths as he has, Nkamhoua gets to hone his game at a high level during this crucial stage of the offseason.

"The experiences with the national team have been great," Nkamhoua said. "Every time I've gone over there, it's a different kind of basketball a little bit. It's faster. You get to be around professionals. Especially now since I'm going with the men's team, I get to be around professionals who know what they're doing, they've been doing it for years. Some guys are still my age, too. I have different guys my age, some are still in school and others are playing pro, guys my age. I get to see different players and how they approach the game and just learn from them. Get into a different environment and, still, during summer, keep playing competitive basketball so it's always great."

Wearing a uniform of a collegiate program and one of your home nation are two different beasts in themselves.

While both hold plenty of pride to wear, nothing quite compares to representing your home nation, especially in a worldwide tournament such as the FIBA World Cup.

It didn't take long for the importance of it all to hit Nkamhoua.

"When it really hit me is when I played my first game and my mom was in the stands wearing the Finland jersey," Nkamhoua said. "How happy she was and I had a bunch of my family there. It is a very different feeling representing your country."

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