May 21, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - Isaac Sosa (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico) expects to have little free time this summer. The shooting guard, who is entering his sophomore year at UCF, has some major goals for the offseason. The goals do not involve taking a break.
Sosa is currently in Puerto Rico, where he and his teammates are preparing to compete in the FIBA U19 World Championship, which will be held in Auckland, New Zealand, starting July 2. Sixteen teams from around the world will be in action at the 10-day tournament.
Sosa, who averaged 8.2 points in 19.7 minutes a game for UCF as a rookie, wants to help his team have a good showing at the FIBA event. In 2008, he averaged 13.8 points as Puerto Rico qualified for the world championship by winning two contests in group play at the FIBA Americas U18 Championship in Argentina.
This past season, Sosa was one of the top shooters in Conference USA. He plans to improve several aspects of his game while training in Puerto Rico and playing at the world championship.
"I am going to work on my defensive slides as much as I can, and getting my shot up quicker. That is what the coaches encouraged me to do," Sosa said. "I (hope) to come back here ready to do new things that I couldn't do last year."
Sosa appeared in all 31 of the Knights' games last year, staring seven of the squad's last nine contests in the backcourt next to fellow rookie A.J. Rompza (Chicago, Ill.).
With guard Jermaine Taylor (Tavares, Fla.) and his 26.2 points per game moving to the National Basketball Association, Sosa feels that he can pick up some of the scoring slack.
"It is going to be a challenge," he said. "I think that I will be able to do it. Offensively, I have never had an issue during my career. I am just trying to work hard and be an all-around basketball player."
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Notes: Sosa connected on 57 3-pointers as a rookie. His 3-point field goal percentage (45.2) ranked seventh on the UCF single-season register... The first session of the Kirk Speraw Basketball Camp at UCF starts June 8. Click here to register for the camps.