​Washington Huskies forward Nikola Dzepina has been one of the most dominant players for Team Serbia in the group stage of the 2026 FIBA U20 EuroBasketball tournament.The 6-foot-9 forward scored a game-high 20 points to lead his home country to an 89-66 victory over Latvia on Monday, his second 20-point outing this month, helping lead Serbia to a 3-0 record in Group B to advance to the Round of 16 in the European hoops tournament.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementDzepina, a midseason addition for coach Danny Sprinkle last December, averaged 17.1 points, 8.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists for Serbia while shooting 62.1 percent from the floor during the group stage.”The one thing I love about them is they’re being taught. They come over here (and) there’s no entitlement. They want to work. They’re excited to be here,” Sprinkle said last December when asked about his experience coaching international players.Dzepina put up a double-double performance, something his now-ex-teammate and fellow standout international forward Hannes Steinbach did as a freshman last season, finishing with 21 points and 13 rebounds to help lead Serbia to an 84-67 victory over Poland in Slovenia.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementLast season, in a limited role, the freshman forward averaged 2.4 points and 1.2 rebounds per game, which included a career-high 7 points and 8 rebounds in his second college appearance to help lift UW to an 86-56 win over San Diego at Alaska Airlines Arena on Dec. 22.”I love coaching them,” Sprinkle added. “Obviously, Hannes [Steinbach] and Nikola now…We have plenty of them. They’re a joy to coach, man. You see around the country right now. You look at Illinois; they’re rolling, and they’ve got six or seven international guys. It’s a market we have to continue to hit.”This article originally appeared on Huskies Wire: Washington Basketball F Dominates For Serbia in EuroBasketball U20s