MONTEVIDEO (FIBA AmeriCup 2017) - Uruguay coach Marcelo Signorelli on Thursday afternoon announced a 16-man squad ahead of the country's FIBA AmeriCup campaign in Montevideo.

Among those included is 31-year-old big man Nicolas Borsellino, who was absent from the national side last year but is back after a terrific season with Uruguayan outfit Bigua.

Borsellino, whose first AmeriCup was in 2005, has had some good tournaments with the national team. He played in the competition two years ago in Mexico City and averaged 10.1 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.

Jayson Granger, who is one of Uruguay's top players based overseas and competes with Turkish side Anadolu Efes, and fellow guard Bruno Fitipaldo, are in the group. Fitipaldo, having played with Galatasaray in Turkey this past season, recently signed for Scandone Avellino in Italy's top flight.

Veteran big man Esteban Batista, a member of newly-crowned Italian champions Umana Reyer Venezia, is also in the group.

Gustavo Barrera, Santiago Vidal and Demian Alvarez are not included but will be in the 30-strong group for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Americas Qualifiers, which tip off in November.

The national team players will begin getting ready for the AmeriCup on July 17 and will five days later travel to the Far East to train and also take on the Julio Lamas-coached Japan national team in a couple of friendly games.

After returning home, Uruguay will resume their preparations, which includes warm-up games in Bigua against Argentina on August 12 and 13.

Uruguay's last three friendlies will be played in Salta, Argentina, on August 19, 20 and 21. Their opponents will be Argentina, Brazil and Colombia.

As for the AmeriCup, Uruguay, Colombia and Argentina are hosting the three groups. Uruguay will stage Group C from August 28-30 and will take on the Dominican Republic, Panama and the United States. 

Argentina will host the Semi-Finals and Finals in Cordoba on September 2 and 3.

The best team from each group will advance to the Final Phase, along with Argentina, who will automatically qualify because of their status as the main organizers of the competition.

Before Thursday's news conference, Uruguay announced that veteran Mauricio Aguiar had decided to retire from the national team. The 34-year-old's first senior team tournament was the 2003 South American Championship for Men.

FIBA