May 19, 2008

UTEP's Claude Britten and Julyan Stone will join players from Memphis, Southern Miss and Tulsa on a Conference USA Select Team that will tour China this summer.

The squad will play three exhibition games versus some of the top Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) teams in the cities of Foshan, Jinjiang and Huizhou from May 28-June 1.

Other players on the C-USA roster include Memphis' Antonio Anderson, Robert Dozier, Willie Kemp, Doneal Mack, Pierre Niles, Jeff Robinson and Shawn Taggart; Southern Miss' Andre Stephens and Jeremy Wise; and Tulsa's Jerome Jordan and Ben Uzoh. The team will be coached by Memphis' John Calipari, and UTEP's Tony Barbee will be an assistant coach.

The tour is part of a five-year agreement between the University of Memphis and the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). As part of the exchange program, the CBA sent one of its coaches to Memphis for the 2007-08 season and will continue to do so for the next four years.

Britten averaged 3.6 points, 2.2 rebounds and 0.5 blocks while appearing in 21 games last season. He shot 58.7 percent from the field. Stone was also an important contributor as a freshman, making 25 starts and averaging 2.8 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.6 steals. He was second in Conference USA with a 2.28 assist-to-turnover ratio, a figure which was tops among freshmen in the NCAA.