U20 Nationals: How Tassie sharpshooter’s selflessness has impressed coach

He torched NSW with nine three pointers, but Tasmania’s coach has been most impressed by national representative Nash Walker’s selflessness at the under-20 nationals. See how you can watch a live stream of games.

Nash Walker in action for Tasmania at the 2025 Basketball Australia Under-20 & Ivor Burge National Championships. Picture: Taylor Earnshaw

He hit nine three pointers in a game, but Tasmania coach Hayden Zasadny singled out Nash Walker’s defence and selflessness as the highlights of his under-20 national championships campaign.

Walker and star talent Jacob Furphy, both Australia representatives from Smithton, have led Tasmania to Sunday’s playoff for fifth after defeating NSW Blue 65-59 on Saturday.

Furphy, who has signed with US college giants UConn and recently made his senior Boomers debut, is one of the leading scorers at the tournament in Ballarat.

His long time running mate Walker has also stood out, but it’s his team-first ethos which has impressed Zasadny most.

The under-17 national representative took 13 shots - all three pointers - in a 90-71 win against the other NSW outfit on Thursday.

He made nine of those, eight in the first half, to score 28 points.

“The best thing for him is his defence has been awesome, and just taking pride in that, Zasadny said.

“He’s got the elite skill of trying to shoot the ball at a high level and we’ve been getting him looks, but he’s been great in periods when there’s a lot of defenders going to him, he’s getting others open.

“They are the best things I’ve seen from him this week. He’s selfless and wants to get other people open.

“Obviously he had a really good game against NSW where he hit nine threes. But other than that he’s been chipping away with a few threes a game, dragging people to him and getting other people open.”

Zasadny said having Furphy and Walker attend most training camps has been huge.

Launceston’s Logan Gibson, another standout for Tasmania this week, delivered a monster 25 point, 15 rebound game against NSW Blue.

Nash Walker in action for Tasmania at the 2025 Basketball Australia Under-20 National Championships. Picture: Taylor Earnshaw

“Both (Walker and Furphy) are experienced in Australian teams but we also have some good pieces that pair really well with them,” Zasadny said.

“We’ve seen during the week when they’re not on (the court) or been guarded well there’s other pieces there and everyone plays their part.

“Jacob and Nash have been awesome for their leadership and knowledge.”

Zasadny said building resilience in the group has been a major focus, and improving defence after conceding 110 points in their first game.

“We’ve been trying to treat ourselves as an elastic band, if we get stretched we always come back and be resilient,” Zasadny said.

“We’re always trying to bat above our average and punch above our weight. We feel like over the last five to seven years we’ve been chipping away, and you don’t want to face us in tough games because we can be deadly.

“Every year we’re looking to overachieve, we always come in thinking we can beat teams.”

Meanwhile, Chloe Broomhall (14 points, ten rebounds, three assists) racked up a double-double as Tasmania’s women also secured a fifth-place playoff berth against WA with Saturday’s 75-70 win over Victoria Blue.

The men’s and women’s clashes tip off at 2pm and 2.30pm respectively on Sunday. Games on finals day are live streamed on The Mercury website here.

Tasmania’s Ivor Burge campaign came to an end in the semis with a 99-63 semi final defeat to South Australia.