DAVIS, Calif. -- Former UC Davis men's basketball player Hugh Hogland and baseball player Ty Kelly will represent Japan and Israel, respectively, during the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Hogland has dual citizenship with the host country through his mother, Sanae Watanabe. Kelly is a Jewish American who obtained Israeli citizenship prior to the 2019 European Baseball Championship.

Hogland, who plays under his mother's family name for Japan, earned his bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Portland in 2020. Graduating in just three years, he had remaining NCAA eligibility when he enrolled at UC Davis' Graduate School of Management last fall. Hogland played two games for the Aggies in 2020-21, earning a start against Idaho State on November 28. However, he decided to forgo his final year of collegiate basketball and signed a professional contract with Japan's B. League.

Hogland earned opportunities to play with the Japan national 'B' team as far back as his freshman year with the Pilots, and had a subsequent invite to join the 'A' squad a year later. Then in June, soon after his signing with the B. League's Ryukyu Golden Kings, he reunited with the Japan national team at the 2021 FIBA Asia C in Angeles City, Philippines. Hogland was officially announced as one of the 12 players on Japan's Olympic team on July 5. He is both the youngest (22) and tallest (6-foot-10) member of the team.

Coincidentally, Kelly also transferred from a West Coast Conference program to join UC Davis, albeit more than a decade before Hogland. The Tracy, California native saw reserve action for Loyola Marymount in 2007 before enjoying an outstanding two-year stay with the Aggies in 2008-09. Kelly earned two All-Big West Conference nods plus spots on the 2009 Brooks Wallace Player of the Year watch list and Ping! All-America third team. His .3966 batting average as a sophomore in 2008 led the Big West and still ranks second in school history.

Kelly was selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the 13th round of the 2009 MLB June Amateur Draft, launching a 12-year professional career with six different organizations. He made his Major League debut with the New York Mets on May 24, 2016, becoming the fourth Aggie to reach such a level. In all, Kelly played 118 career MLB games between the Mets and rival Phillies, while compiling minor league totals of 1,119 games, a .275 average, 193 doubles and 56 home runs. He also became a regular on Matt Paré's popular YouTube vlog, then known as the Homeless Minor Leaguer.

On the international scene, Kelly first played for Israel at the 2017 World Baseball Classic, then rejoined the team at the European Championship and Africa/Europe Olympic Qualification tournament in 2019. Israel won the latter, earning a berth in the Tokyo Olympics.

The men's basketball competition runs from this Sunday, with the gold-medal game taking place on Saturday, August 7. Baseball, making its first appearance at the Olympics since 2008, runs from July 28 through August 5, with the bronze and gold medal games also held on August 7. In the U.S., the Olympic Games will be broadcast throughout the family of NBC channels (NBC, NBCSN, CNBC Olympic Channel, USA) and streaming services (NBS Sports app, Peacock, NBCOlympics.com). 

While Hogland and Kelly are the only former UC Davis student-athletes at the 2021 Olympics, the Aggies will have another familiar face in Tokyo: Marcia Faustin, a family medicine and sports medicine doctor at UC Davis Health, joins New York physiatrist Ellen Casey as co-head team physicians for USA Gymnastics. Known better as "Dr. Marcy" to the gymnasts, Faustin won four conference high jump titles at Loyola Chicago, and still holds the Ramblers' school indoor and outdoor records in that event.

ABOUT UC DAVIS:
Centrally located between San Francisco and Lake Tahoe, over 700 student-athletes across 25 teams enjoy an unrivaled undergraduate experience at the fifth-ranked public school in the country.

Ranked annually in the nation's top 10 in diversity and students' social mobility, UC Davis and its innovative Aggie EVO system helps student-athletes develop passions, connect with a comprehensive network of alums and industry leaders, gain real-world experience and thrive as a young professional following a successful launch to full-time employment or graduate school.