Gonzaga Guard Juwan Ekanga-Ehawa Flashes Tools For France in EuroBasket
Although he will likely play a limited role for the Gonzaga Bulldogs during the 2025-26 season, 18-year-old Juwan Ekanga-Ehawa is gaining more competitive experience on the international stage.
The 6-6 guard suited up for France at the FIBA U20 EuroBasket competition, hosted in Slovenia during July. France went 5-2, eventually falling to Spain in the third-place match. Ekanga-Ehawa flashed promising traits and tools that drew the Zags to him, while also showing areas where he needs improvement before he can become a regular rotation contributor in Spokane.
Logging 16.3 minutes a game, Ekanga-Ehawa averaged 3.0 points, 2.1 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 1.6 steals per contest. He converted just nine of 29 field goals (31%), as his efficiency was weighed down by missing all 10 three-point tries, while he converted three of four attempts at the charity stripe. As evidenced by his per-game stat line, Ekanga-Ehawa made his biggest impact for France on the defensive end. The Bulldogs commit boasts a 6-10 wingspan, allowing him to be an effective defender both on the perimeter and at the rim.
During the second quarter of France’s 67-53 victory over Italy, Ekanga-Ehawa made productive plays with his back to the basket on back-to-back possessions. First, he stayed attached to the primary ball-handler bringing the ball up the floor. When the offensive player drove, Ekanga-Ehawa poked the ball away without fouling before a shot went up, then started a French fast break the other way.
After a missed corner three-pointer by France, Italy ran a high pick-and-roll near half-court that put two of Ekanga-Ehawa’s teammates in conflict. It gave a clean angle to the ball-handler, who came down the open lane with a head full of steam. But Ekanga-Ehawa roamed over as a backside defender to cut him off, met the Italian at the rim, and denied the shot with ease.
In the final seconds of the half, Italy botched a pass in the lane, leading to a loose ball. Actively moving from his defensive assignment in the corner, Ekanga-Ehawa was there to scoop the ball, burn the corner on the guard in front of him near the top of the key, and run in transition. He authoritatively flushed a two-handed slam down with multiple defenders around, all in about five seconds.
He finished that game with five steals, totaling 11 takeaways over the seven contests, leading France in that category. But Ekanga-Ehawa also committed 16 fouls, displaying an overaggressiveness to make plays defensively at times, perhaps to compensate for his struggling three-point shot.
Even with a clean shooting form that projects to improve with time, proficiency from beyond the arc has been the least notable aspect of Ekanga-Ehawa’s game to this point in his young career. On 134 attempts from three for JL Bourg last season, he knocked down just 41 (30.6%). There is belief in internal development for Ekanga-Ehawa’s jumper. A current example for GU is Davis Fogle, who took major strides shooting-wise during a breakout freshman campaign last season. Fogle made an admirable 35% of his 40 shots from distance in his first year as a Zag, but has been hard at work with Gonzaga assistant coach Stephen Gentry this offseason to make his jump shot more fast and fluid for pull-up and catch-and-shoot situations.
Still, Ekanga-Ehawa’s athleticism and feel for the game make him a promising off-ball player at the least. He has consistently converted his attempts inside the arc, including a 69.8% clip on two-pointers with JL Bourg’s U21 unit last year. That elite shotmaking on close-range shots was one of the main reasons Ekanga-Ehawa won Most Improved Player in the Espoirs ELITE league, as he averaged 19.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 2.1 steals on 52% shooting.
The young, talented Zags recruit has also competed in the French Young Stars Game in Paris, where he tied for a game-high 16 points, played for the 3x3 U17 national team at the European Youth Summer Olympic Festival in Macedonia last summer, contributing to a French silver medal, and suited up for Chorale Roanne for select games last season in Élite 2, a second-tier French league.
Aside from refining his three-point precision, Ekanga-Ehawa can get on the court quicker for Gonzaga by enhancing his defensive discipline and connective abilities on offense. A full season in Spokane as well as continued reps in these highly competitive, international settings should only expedite that process.
