Quarter-Finals preview: Europe take on Americas twice, Canada hungry for Semis

SANTA FE (FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2018) - We’ve reached the Quarter-Finals of the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2018 with only one team - Montenegro - being new to the spot and another one - Canada - looking to finally get past this stage again.

The event moves to Santa Fe in full as the teams from Rosario have moved to the provincial capital and will square off in the Club Atletico Union. We will have one all-European match-up, two showdowns of Americas v Europe and one contest of Asia taking on Americas.

Here are rundown of the four Quarter-Finals.

Puerto Rico v Montenegro

This match-up promises to be an enticing match-up of rock solid backcourt play. Puerto Rico have only lost two games among their 11 contests in U17 World Cup history - to Australia in the 2014 Quarter-Finals and again to Australia in the Group Phase in Argentina. They will be looking to keep their record clean save for the Asians. Montenegro meanwhile are making their maiden journey at the global stage and have shown to be a resilient bunch who went all the way to the Final of the FIBA U16 European Championship 2017 after knocking off Spain, Italy, Lithuania and Serbia in a span of seven days.

Puerto Rico are led by Andre Curbelo, who flirted with a triple-double in their opener and then was not far from breaking the competition’s assist record against China. Helping Curbelo are Jermaine Miranda, Victor Rosa and Harry Sosa - a group that commits the fewest turnovers in the competition at 14.5 per game.

Montenegro rank fifth-best at 17.0 turnovers a contest, which shouldn’t be a surprise with the strong guard play of Jovan Kljajic and Stefan Vlahovic not to mention Bojan Tomasevic, who can hurt people in the post as well as outside.

United States v Croatia

The four-time reigning champions United States will be aiming for a 35th straight U17 World Cup victory as they face off against 2012 third-place finishers Croatia for the first time in the history of the competition.

Don Showalter’s USA team has wreaked havoc on opponents to the tune of 35.3 turnovers forced a game. That doesn’t bode well considering Croatia is third-worst in turnovers committed at 22.3 per game. It’s next to impossible to single out any particular USA player as all 12 players play between 12.9 and 23.5 minutes and nine of them average 8.3 points or more. A couple of the biggest leaders are De’Vion Harmon, Vernon Carey Jr. and Isaiah Stewart II.

Croatia will need to handle the ball and also race back on defense. Matej Rudan has been their top weapon thus far while Roko Prkacin and Ivan Perasovic - both sons of famous fathers - have shown they are talented well beyond their age, both being born in 2002.

Turkey v France

This is a re-match of the Quarter-Finals of the FIBA U16 European Championship 2017, where Turkey fought back from 12 points down in the fourth quarter to lose by just two points to the eventual champs France. Turkey are the 2016 U17 World Cup runners-up from their sole appearance in the tournament while France have never won at this final eight stage, with their top placing being in 2016 after losing to Lithuania in overtime in the Quarter-Finals.

Turkey have Mustafa Kurtuldum as the main weapon but France must also deal with Atakan Erdek, Furkan Haltali and Alperen Sengün.

France are the U16 European champions and have the dangerous guard trio of Killian Hayes, Theo Maledon and Malcolm Cazalon - not to mention Timothe Crusol and Matthieu Gauzin also showing they can lead the team off the bench. 

Australia v Canada

Australia are the two-time runners-up in 2012 and 2014 and will take on the 2010 third-placed finishers Canada. Australia lost in the 2016 Quarter-Finals while the final eight has been Canada’s exit point the last three tournaments - in 2012 and 2014 against United States and 2016 versus Turkey.

The biggest questions for the Canadians are how can they handle Australia’s long-haired Lukes - Luke Jackson (averaging 14.0 points and 13.3 rebounds) and Luke Travers (13.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists) - and keep lightning quick Tamuri Wigness in front of them.

The Australians for their part must stop Canada’s myriad of weapons including Addison Patterson, Cashius McNeilly and Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe - the latter who has been getting more and more confident each game thus far.

The teams will be playing for the fourth time in U17 World Cup competition after Canada won in the group stages in 2010, 2014 and 2016.

FIBA