Who is Avand Dorian? All we know about USC guard who helped Armenia win the LA International Basketball Cup 

Avand Dorian is a walk-on guard who will be playing his first season with the USC Trojans in the 2024-25 season. He represented Armenia in the LA International Basketball Cup and helped the team win the title on June 23 by beating Ireland 92-91 in the finals.

Throughout his career at AGBU MDS High in LA, Dorian scored 1,678 points. He was selected to the All-CIF Southern Section thrice and to the CIF All-State once. The 2023 high school graduate averaged 23.7 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game in his senior year. Dorian made 41.2% of his shots from three-point range.

The athlete graduated high school with a 4.7 GPA, with the institute also retiring his jersey. He is currently enrolled in the Marshall School of Business at USC.

“I am very excited for the opportunity to be a part of the USC men’s basketball team and am blessed to have the honor of representing AGBU and the rest of the Armenian community," Avand Dorian said in a statement. "I will do my best to embody what it means to be an Armenian by being disciplined and always leading by example."

Dorian has attended the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) since he was three. Growing up in Los Angeles meant Avand Dorian and his teammates often visited the USC or UCLA campuses for basketball games.

“It’s the best environment we could have,” he said to the Los Angeles Times in 2022. “When we were 3, 4 and 5, we’d come to watch the basketball games. We were so impressed. Those were our role models. We wanted to be like them. We’ve all grown up and it’s us now. We want to make the kids below us proud.”

Avand Dorian's national career with the Armenian basketball team

At 18, Avand Dorian was selected to join the Armenian National team, that played its first game in the USA, hosting Team France in The Armenian Basketball Classic last year.

This year, Dorian and Team Armenia took on Guatemala and Ireland on June 21 and 23 in the LA International Basketball Cup. Armenia won both games by defeating Guatemala 89-57. They then beat Ireland to lift the championship trophy. Andre Spight Mkrtchyan finished as the top scorer of the night with 26 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.

These two games were preparatory tip-offs as Armenia is set to take on Austria on November 24, 2024, and Albania on February 20, 2025, for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 pre-qualifiers.