Eric Hamilton set to represent ACC in 3x3U tournament

Former Pitt power forward Eric Hamilton announced this week that he accepted an invitation to represent the ACC in the 3x3U National Championship. This year's version of the tournament will feature 16 teams of four, and each team will include two pairs of players from different conferences. Hamilton will play for the Tobacco Road Ryders, a team featuring former ACC and Big South players.

“As with every senior, I was looking forward to this last year,” Hamilton said on Twitter. “So I am truly pleased to announce that I will be accepting the invitation to represent the University of Pittsburgh and the ACC in this year's [3x3U] tournament. Let’s get it.”

Joining Hamilton on the Tobacco Road Ryders will be former North Carolina shooting guard Brandon Robinson, Longwood point guard Shabooty Phillips and an additional player who has yet to be named. Like all players in the tournament, Hamilton, Robinson and Phillips have exhausted their NCAA eligibility. Hamilton last played for the Cheshire Phoenix of the British Basketball League. Neither Phillips nor Robinson have played in a pro league.

Hamilton played at Pitt in the 2019-20 season, and during his one season with the program, the 6’9”, 250-pound power forward averaged 5.5 points and 4.4 rebounds in 16.6 minutes per game. As for Phillips, he averaged 12.2 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game over a two-year span at Longwood, and Robinson came up with 11.8 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game in his one year as a starter for North Carolina.

The team will compete for its share of $150,000 at the Pavilion in Indianapolis. There, the 16 teams will face off in a series of games played according to 3x3U rules, which state that the first team to 21 wins, baskets scored inside the arc count for one point, baskets scored from beyond the arc count for two and the game is played on a halfcourt.

This will be the second time Pitt has been represented in the event, as Jared Wilson-Frame represented the ACC alongside Anthony Lawrence of Miami, Marcquise Reed of Clemson and Elijah Thomas of Clemson when the tournament was held at the Mall of America in Minneapolis in 2019. Wilson-Frame led the team with 6.0 points and 1.5 assists per game in addition to shooting 63.6 percent from the field and 55.6 percent from distance.

This year’s iteration of the event will get underway from Indianapolis on Friday and will continue until Sunday. The games will air on ESPN 2 and on Twitter Live.