Michael O’Grady | sports editor

Last March, Jakub Necas exploded onto the Duquesne basketball scene. The freshman from Czechia saved the best performances of his season for last, putting in sublime efforts in the Atlantic-10 Conference Tournament before acting as the catalyst on both sides of the ball in Duquesne’s March Madness win over BYU, the program’s biggest game in 47 years.

But over the summer, he had another breakout—this time, for his country.

Necas represented Czechia at the FIBA U20 EuroBasket tournament in Gdynia, Poland. He led the tournament by averaging 18.6 points per game in seven games, and shot 44-for-100, including 19-for-49 from deep. He also averaged 8.4 rebounds a game and was nearly perfect from the free-throw line. For his performance, he was named one of the tournament’s 10 Rising Stars.

“It was awesome,” Necas said. “It was the last chance I had to represent my country in the underages, so I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to do it again. I tried to enjoy it as much as I could.”

Necas started off the group stage of the tournament with a 18-point, 10-rebound double-double in an 82-74 loss to Israel. After only scoring two points the next day against Germany, he returned to form against Italy, where his 19 points and six rebounds led his team in both categories. Czechia lost again, 71-59, however, and finished 0-3 in their group.

Though Czechia has appeared in the tournament 11 times out of 25 years, it looked like yet another finish near the bottom for the central European nation before Necas’ 20 points and 11 rebounds helped knock off top-seeded Serbia in the round of 16. His free throws at the end of the game secured a hard-earned lead that Czechia had only taken a few minutes prior.

Necas again scored 20 points in a 10-point loss to Belgium in the next round, before his banner performance of the tournament came against host Poland in the fifth-to-eighth place semifinals. With 24 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, a block and a steal, Czechia needed every single number in Necas’ box score as he helped mount a wild fourth quarter comeback in order to pull off a 79-78 victory.

With the win, Czechia ensured that they would finish no lower than sixth place, which matched their highest-ever finish in the tournament in 2015. That was where they would end up after a loss to Lithuania despite a whopping 27 points from Necas, including six 3-pointers. He missed yet another double-double by a single rebound.

The sophomore is expected to have a much bigger role with the Dukes this year. This was evident last season, when Necas evolved from a sparing defensive specialist to playing more than half of the time in Duquesne’s NCAA Tournament games, notching a career-high 12 points in Duquesne’s win over BYU.

“I had pretty good games at the end of the season,” he said, “so it gave me a lot of confidence to go and represent my country and perform well, and to have the type of confidence to be a leader for my teammates as well. It was crucial for me.”

Despite standing 6-foot-8 with an intimidating wingspan, Necas is athletic enough to cover most of the court, and his EuroBasket performances show potential for even more range this winter. It also showed that he is able to step into a starring role when called upon.

With the graduations of Dae Dae Grant and Jimmy Clark III, first-year head coach Dru Joyce III will be on the lookout for new sources of offense, and Necas appears to be an ever-improving prime option to go along with his defense.

“For Jakub to be able to have that opportunity and represent his country, he got a chance to dive into a role with that team and really excel,” Joyce said. “What we need Jakub for is to continue with his versatility…I don’t want to box him in or limit him at all, I think he has a tremendous opportunity to continue on his trajectory and grow.”

Joyce’s relationship with Necas was a large factor in Duquesne’s recruitment of him, and so far, it’s paying off for both player and coach.

“I was just proud to watch and be a part of it,” Joyce said. “I’m not responsible for his success, but I do appreciate being a part of it, and being able to work hand-in-hand with him, that’s what we do every day, we work together. The amount of work that he puts in, to see his level of work really start to bear fruit is very exciting.”

Along with Matus Hronsky, Chabi Barre and newcomer Lucas Prolla, Necas is one of just four international players Duquesne rosters this season after there were eight international Dukes last year, the most in the A-10. While Necas had the spotlight this summer, Hronsky played in two friendlies for Slovakia and Barre has played for Benin in the past.

“To have them miss a couple weeks to have that level of competition and development opportunity,” Duquesne Athletic Director Dave Harper said, “it’s obviously a positive for them.”

Joyce, who is American but played 12 years in Europe, recognized the importance of representing one’s home country overseas.

“There’s a lot of pride that goes into that, because you’re not playing for yourself, you’re playing for something much deeper, and the respect and adoration you get from your country for playing is unbelievable. It comes with a lot,” he said.

Necas agreed.

“I think it’s the most honorable thing you can ever achieve in basketball,” he said. “I did my best because of how much honor I had, I had to perform well.”