TOKYO – Penn State men's basketball alumnus Tom Hovasse '89 opened the 2020 Tokyo Olympics by leading his Japan women's basketball team to a 74-70 win over France in the group stage Monday night.
Hovasse is serving as the head coach of Japan for the 2020 Tokyo games after serving as an assistant coach during the 2016 Rio games. Hovasse was named the first foreign-born head coach of the Japanese National Team in 2017.
Hovasse was a first team all-conference performer at Penn State who ranks No. 12 on Penn State's all-time scoring leaders list with 1,459 career points. He played for the Nittany Lions from 1985-1989, earning first team All-Atlantic 10 honors as a senior in 1989. Hovasse went on to play professionally for a number of years, making several stops overseas and seeing time with the NBA's Atlanta Hawks during the 1994-95 season. He has spent the last 10-plus years coaching with a majority of his coaching career coming in Japan and a brief stint as an assistant coach with the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury.
Hovasse and Japan will next face powerhouse Team USA on Friday at 12:40 a.m. ET, before closing out the group play stage on Sunday at 9 p.m. ET against Nigeria. The first- and second-place teams from each of the three groups, and the two best third-place teams overall, will advance to the knockout round that begins Aug. 3.
