Arizona target Nik Khamenia's stock jumps after playing for Tommy Lloyd's USA U18 team (2024)

GLENDALE — In an 18-day span that ended earlier this month with a gold medal around his neck, Southern California forward Nik Khamenia hopped planes to Colorado and then Argentina, endured two-a-day training camp practices, roster-cutdown tension and then a six-game FIBA tournament in Buenos Aires.

Refuge came in the form of those famed Argentinian steakhouses, where Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd routed Khamenia and the rest of his U18 team during its six-game romp through the FIBA U18 AmeriCup.

“We went to probably two or three,” said Khamenia, a versatile 6-6 forward in the class of 2025 who is also a UA recruiting target. “Steak was probably the best meal that I had there.”

An image of the whirlwind ending is plastered on USA Basketball’s U18 website page: There’s Khamenia and a lineup of his gold-medal-clad teammates arching their necks backward to watch Purdue-bound center Daniel Jacobsen hoist the trophy. Lloyd and UA trainer Justin Kokoskie are on the left while UA player development director Rem Bakamus is among staffers on the right.

It was a pinnacle of national youth basketball, second only to the U19 World Cup that Lloyd is also scheduled to coach USA’s junior team in next summer.

The day after winning gold in Buenos Aires, Khamenia flew back to North America and, quickly, down to earth in another sense, too.

“Hopped off the plane and the next day I had breakfast at school, and I want to practice,” Khamenia said. “I haven’t had the most amount of time off.”

Practice this time was for Harvard-Westlake School, which was beginning preparations to play this weekend in the Section 7 recruiting showcase at State Farm Stadium. No playing against five-star guys as he did at USA Basketball’s Colorado Springs training camp, nor against unknown international guys from Argentina, Venezuela or even Belize.

Just the guys he goes to class with. But Khamenia wasn’t complaining.

“It’s been fun getting back on my high school team,” Khamenia said after a Section 7 game. “It was a great experience in Argentina winning a gold medal. Now I’m really focused on winning this tournament and starting off my senior year really strong.”

He’ll have to do so with a lot more eyes on him. Because one thing about Khamenia’s life didn’t return to normal when he returned home from Argentina: His USA training camp performance — and AmeriCup tournament averages of 7.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 38.5% 3-point shooting — helped him shoot up another nine spots in 247’s national 2025 rankings to No. 29, after sitting at No. 65 two years ago.

College interest in him picked up accordingly, with interest from Duke and Kansas joining already-established efforts from places such as Oregon, Louisville, Gonzaga and UCLA. Arizona offered him a scholarship last week.

Khamenia said he’s still far from setting up official visits or even thinking much about recruiting at this point but he said when he does narrow things down, his relationships with coaches will matter.

“Those are the people you’re gonna be with every single day,” Khamenia said. “They’re gonna be your second family. So it matters a lot.”

The USA Basketball experience gave Lloyd — as well as assistant coaches Grant McCasland (Texas Tech) and Micah Shrewsberry (Notre Dame) — a chance to build a relationship with the elite college prospects such as Khamenia, most of whom have not committed to a college. But Lloyd said beforehand that recruiting would not be a focus within the U18 camp and tournament, just the national team.

Besides, there wasn’t much time to hang out.

“Off the court, it wasn’t that much,” Khamenia said. “I mean, we’d be at the hotel eating lunch and stuff but we didn’t have those one-on-one conversations. You get to see there are different ways to coaching styles. They’re all great coaches and great, great people off the court. So you get somewhat of a feel but not the best feel.”

But college coaches are getting a much better feel for what Khaminia can do, more than ever.

Khamenia has been waiting for that.

“Honestly, and I mean this in the humblest way possible, I feel like it should have been like that for a while,” Khamenia said of the rising attention. “I have a great family that keeps me grounded. My mom and dad played basketball. I go to a school where nothing’s taken lightly. So it’s just it’s the same focus every single day: Keep my head down, stay focused, keep working.

“Because at the end of the day if I don’t keep working, then it doesn’t matter what school I go to. I’m not gonna play.”