KU point guard Charlie Moore is headed back to Italy

Kansas guard Charlie Moore, left, is chased by HSC Roma's Aristide Mouaha during their basketball game in Rome, Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2017. (AP Photo/Riccardo De Luca)

Kansas point guard Charlie Moore is headed back to Italy for the second summer in a row.

After playing with his new teammates during KU’s four-game exhibition trip to Italy 11 months ago, Moore will be the lone Jayhawk on a USA team that will be one of four squads participating in the USA East Coast Tour of Venice, on Aug. 2-9 in Venice, Italy.

The team, which will be coached by former KU head coach and Hall of Famer Larry Brown, features 11 other college players from programs as big as Purdue, Colorado, South Carolina and SMU, and as small as Abilene Christian and UNC Greensboro.

Brown coached a different roster in a similar event last summer in Madrid.

Kansas coach Bill Self, who is out on the road recruiting, touched on Moore’s experience on Thursday with the Journal-World.

“I think this will be good for Charlie, especially getting the chance to work with Coach Brown,” Self said, noting that freshman forward David McCormack also will be out on an international tour in the next few weeks. McCormack is headed to Belgium with former Santa Clara coach Kerry Keating, the son of KU Associate Athletic Director Larry Keating.

Keating and McCormack will be in Belgium Aug. 10-17.

“This should be a great experience for both players, on and off the court,” Self said.

As for Moore, his temporary squad will arrive in Italy on July 30 and begin play on Aug. 3.

After four days of training, tourist activities and team meetings, the USA squad will play four games in four days, beginning with a battle with Germany on Aug. 3. The USA East Coast squad will then play Italy on Aug. 4, the Netherlands on Aug. 5 and Vicenza Select on Aug. 6 before leaving Italy on Aug. 8.

The 5-foot-11 Moore, who is vying to earn KU’s starting point guard spot after sitting out the 2017-18 season following a transfer from Cal, is one of seven juniors on the team headed to Italy that features all underclassmen.

Moore also is just one of four guards listed on the 12-man roster, which should allow for plenty of playing time during the four games.

Although he was ineligible to play during the 2017-18 college season because of NCAA transfer rules, Moore was eligible for KU’s Italian tour and played a fair amount of minutes.

In four games, the former Mr. Basketball in Illinois averaged 7.8 points per game, was second on the team in assists with 15 (3.8 per game) and recorded seven steals and averaged 2.5 rebounds per game.

Moore delivered two six-assist contests and also scored an exhibition-tour best 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting, including a 2-of-4 mark from 3-point range, with two assists and three steals in KU’s victory over the Players Group.

It remains to be seen what role Moore will have with this squad and what type of competition it faces. The guess here is that the players will see much better talent than the Jayhawks were tested with during their Italian tour.

If so, that only figures to help Moore in his quest to earn big minutes with the Jayhawks during the 2018-19 season and should give him a nice refresher course on running a team, just in time to return to Lawrence for the start of the fall semester, boot camp and the real beginning of the battle with Devon Dotson for starting point guard duties.

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