Kostas Antetokounmpo to begin practicing with Dayton Flyers

Freshman sitting out season as partial qualifier
Dayton's Kostas Antetokounmpo, center, watches a game against Vanderbilt on Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2016, at UD Arena.

Credit: David Jablonski - Staff Writer

Credit: David Jablonski - Staff Writer

Dayton's Kostas Antetokounmpo, center, watches a game against Vanderbilt on Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2016, at UD Arena.

The long wait for Dayton Flyers freshman Kostas Antetokounmpo to get on the practice court will end Thursday.

“We could use him,” Dayton coach Archie Miller said Monday on the Archie Miller Show on WHIO Radio. “I’d like to put that length and size out there and start to work him against the team like we did with Steve (McElvene) and Charles (Cooke) two years ago. He’s excited to get in there. We’re excited to have him. He worked hard the first semester as best he could. He had to be patient.”

Antetokounmpo would have been a “full go” for practice Wednesday, Miller said, but Dayton didn’t practice because it had a game against Vanderbilt. The Flyers (8-3) won 68-63 at UD Arena.

Antetokounmpo, a 6-foot-10, 190-pound forward who was born in Athens, Greece, but attended his last two years of high school in Whitefish Bay, Wisc., couldn’t practice until his first-semester grades were posted. Antetokounmpo had been checking for his grades every morning, Miller said, hoping they would be posted, and it finally happened Wednesday.

Antetokounmpo will redshirt this season as a NCAA partial qualifier. Two years ago, the late McElvene was in the same position, but then partial qualifiers could practice all season. The NCAA changed the rule to give those student-athletes time to get acclimated to school without worrying about their sport.

Kostas’ brother Giannis, who plays for the Milwaukee Bucks, is having another All-Star caliber season. He’s averaging 22.9 points, 9.1 rebounds and 5.8 assists.

Me @tlanders_03 being goofy

😂🔴🔵💪🏾

— Kostas Antetokounmpo (@Kostas_ante34)

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