MIES (Switzerland) - United States restored their place atop the globe by winning the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2019 after crashing to third place two summers earlier. The 14th edition of the junior global event however may best be remembered for Mali sensationally reaching the Final and making history for Africa.
USA included four players from the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2018-winning team - Scott Barnes, Jalen Green, Evan Mobley and Jalen Suggs - and would ultimately end up hoisting the trophy for the seventh time. Mali would grab silver while France left Greece with a medal for third place.
The best team: USA
Rank | Team | Record |
|---|---|---|
1. | USA | 7-0 |
2. | Mali | 5-2 |
3. | France | 5-2 |
4. | Lithuania | 3-4 |
5. | Russia | 5-2 |
6. | Puerto Rico | 2-5 |
7. | Serbia | 5-2 |
8. | Canada | 3-4 |
9. | Australia | 5-2 |
10. | Greece | 3-4 |
11. | Argentina | 5-2 |
12. | Latvia | 1-6 |
13. | New Zealand | 4-3 |
14. | Philippines | 1-6 |
15. | Senegal | 1-6 |
16. | China | 1-6 |
The FIBA U19 World Cup was taking place in Greece for the fourth time following 1995, 2003 and 2015. As the world shifted its sights on Heraklion, Philippines were back on the global stage for the second time after the first edition in 1979; Latvia returned after hosting the event in 2011; Mali and New Zealand were making back-to-back appearances for the first time; and Russia and Senegal were back after missing the last two editions.
The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four with a round-robin style group stage, from which all teams advanced to the knockout phase, beginning with the Round of 16. United States, Argentina and Sergia all went undefeated in their groups while Canada finished ahead of Australia and Mali in a three-way tie atop Group C.
In the group stage, the games among the Group C top trio were all close: Canada beating Australia by 5 points; Mali fighting past Canada by 1 point; and Australia knocking off Mali by 3 points. In the tiebreakers, Australia actually finished second due to most points scored over Mali. And Group C had the only overtime game of the group stage as Francisco Caffaro missed a free throw with 4.3 seconds to go which could have given Argentina the win. But the South Americans, who wasted a 10-point lead with 5 minutes to go in the fourth quarter, prevailed in the extra session 86-84 over Russia.
In the Round of 16, Mali made history (more on that later) by beating New Zealand 77-62 to secure their best-ever finish; France bounced hosts Greece comfortably 77-46; and Puerto Rico made up for their loss to Argentina in the Third Place Game of the FIBA U18 AmeriCup 2018 by winning 77-57.
The Quarter-Finals saw another Mali win (beating Puerto Rico 84-74); Lithuania take down the FIBA U18 EuroBasket 2018 champs Serbia; France eliminate the reigning champions Canada; and USA roll by Russia. Lithuania were no match in the Semi-Finals for USA, losing by 35 points while Mali shocked the world by beating France 76-73.
France rebounded to defeat Lithuania for third place - the country second podium finish following third place in 2007 - and then United States ended the Mali dreams with a 93-79 win in the Final for their seventh title.
The best player: Reggie Perry - MVP
Reggie Perry came to Greece as a rising college sophomore at Mississippi State. The Mississippi native moved to Georgia and had helped his high school Thomasville to their first ever state championship in 2018. After his freshman season at Mississippi State, the big man declared for the 2019 NBA Draft and went to the draft combine but withdrew his name.
He started the U19 World Cup with 20 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocks against New Zealand. He followed that with 10 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists in a win over Lithuania. Perry picked up 9 points and 8 rebounds in a blowout of Senegal and had 7 points and 5 rebounds in the Round of 16 win over Latvia.
Perry had his best game in the Quarter-Finals, dominating Russia with 28 points to go with 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks. His efficiency of 38 was the second-highest in the tournament.
Perry collected 8 points and 14 rebounds in the Semi-Finals win over Lithuania and then tallied 10 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals in the Final.
Perry was joined on the All-Star Five by USA teammate Tyrese Haliburton, the Mali duo of Siriman Kanoute and Oumar Ballo and Joel Ayayi of France.
The best game: Lithuania beat Serbia again - knock out European champs in Quarters
Serbia came into the FIBA U19 World Cup with high hopes of picking up a second global crown following 2007. The Serbs had the big man duo of Filip Petrusev and Marko Pecarski as well as Dalibor Ilic and Uros Trifunovic. They had teamed together the previous summer and guided Serbia to the FIBA U18 EuroBasket 2018 title - Petrusev and Pecarski were also leaders on the Serbian team that won the U18 continental trophy in 2017 as well.
Serbia's road to the championship in 2018 saw just one slip-up - in the first game of the tournament: a 92-87 loss to Lithuania. And now in Greece, the Serbians were hungry to finally get to the top of the podium again. Aleksandar Bucan's team had taken care of business up until the final eight - beating China by 49 points, holding on 75-74 against Puerto Rico and knocking off France by nine points in a re-match of the 2018 U18 EuroBasket Semi-Finals. The Round of 16 was a comfortable 27 points win over Philippines.
Lithuania for their part defeated Senegal by 24 points before losing to USA by 18 points and New Zealand by two points. That meant a date with Australia in the Round of 16 but the Europeans prevailed 91-74.
The Lithuania-Serbia showdown was tight early until Lithuania used an 8-0 surge to go ahead 19-13 with Rokas Jokubaitis shining early on in his second appearance in the U19 World Cup. Two three-pointers at the end of the first quarter had the Baltic side up 28-20 after 10 minutes. And a second triple from Klaidas Metrikis made it 31-20 to start the second period.
Serbia countered by dumping the ball down to Petrusev and Pecarski and tied the game 39-39 just before the break. Pecarski's basket to start the second half put the Serbs back ahead. Erikas Venskus was able to get scores at the other end and Lithuania were back ahead by eight points - 53-45 - midway through the third quarter. Serbia punched back with the next six points and were down just 61-60 going into the fourth quarter.
Domantas Vilys started the final frame with two three-pointers for a seven-point margin. Serbia would not let them get further ahead and Zoran Paunovic's three-pointer gave the Serbs the lead 71-70. Lithuania were back ahead by three points - 77-74 - inside the final 30 seconds and Trifunovic sent the game to overtime by hitting a three-pointer with 8.0 seconds to go.
Serbia struck first in the extra session but were down 84-83 when Jokubaitis finished them off. He first knocked down a jumper and followed that with a driving layup to make it 88-83 with 28 seconds to go. And the point guard added two free throws with 12 seconds left to ice the win.
Jokubaitis led Lithuania with 21 points and 10 assists; Venskus scored 19 points as he fought all game inside with the Serbian bigs; and Metrikis buried 5 three-pointers for 15 points. Pecarski finished the game with 25 points and 11 rebounds while Trifunovic scored 16 points and Petrusev collected 16 points and 15 rebounds but also 10 turnovers.
Lithuania would go on to lose to USA again 102-67 in the Semi-Finals and then leave empty-handed after a 73-68 loss to France in the Third Place Game. Serbia went on to finish seventh.
The best African performance ever: Mali does entire continent proud
By 2019, Mali were slowly becoming a continental powerhouse in Africa. They won the FIBA U16 AfroBasket in 2017 and were second in 2015 and 2019 and took their maiden FIBA U18 AfroBasket in 2018 crown after third-placed finishes in 2014 and 2016. Mali represented Africa at the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup in 2016 and 2018 and in Greece were playing in their third FIBA U19 World Cup and second straight.
But Mali had not really left a mark on the global stage, twice registering 2-5 records at the FIBA U17 World Cups in 2016 and 2018. In the 2007 FIBA U19 World Cup, Mali only beat Puerto Rico for a 1-4 record and 15th place. And the western African nation went 0-7 in 2017 to finish 16th.
Alhadji Dicko's men started the 2019 event with an impressive 93-79 win over Latvia in Group B. Mali then used a strong 24-11 third quarter to rally and beat Canada - who came into the tournament as reigning champions - 71-70.
Australia barely proved to be a number too big in the final group stage game - beating Mali 82-79 on a Sam Froling three-pointer with 2.3 seconds left. But the game prepared Mali for the other Oceania team and they knocked off New Zealand 77-62 in the Round of 16. That meant Mali had achieved the best performance by an African team in the U19 World Cup in history - bettering the 11th place done three times by Nigeria and twice by Egypt.
"This is a really big victory for Africa," said Coach Dicko. "Now people will look at Mali like an American team or a European team."
Mali were not done yet as they faced Puerto Rico in the Quarter-Finals and took over the game with a 44-24 spread in the second and third quarters en route to an 84-74 victory. It was an ugly game as Mali shot just 43.6 percent while holding Puerto Rico to 34.6 percent. Puerto Rico turned the ball over 21 times but Mali committed 29 turnovers and still won - thanks to 25 offensive rebounds. While Mali had gotten production from Oumar Ballo and Siriman Kanoute all tournament, Fousseyni Drame stepped up for his best game with 22 points.
And all of a sudden, Mali were in the Semi-Finals - among the top four teams in the world. The Africans took an early punch from the French and trailed by eight points in the second quarter. But then Ballo and co. mounted a 13-0 run and led by nine points and never trailed again in the game. Abdoul Karim Coulibaly had two big buckets late and Kanoute hit a tough layup with 52 seconds left to secure the win.
Mali's magic carried them to the Final and a date with the mighty USA. The Africans actually led 22-20 after 10 minutes and the score was 42-40 for USA at the break. But USA turned it up after halftime and took the third quarter 31-15 and it was game over. The Americans ended up winning 93-79 and Mali's dreams were only not completed.
Mali had still captured the hearts of the basketball world and made the entire African continent proud - creating the best result by an African country in a global competition.
The best history: One triple-double in 24 years - then two in three days
Triple-doubles are one of those magical statlines in basketball and going into the 2019 U19 World Cup, Dario Saric was the only player since 1995 to record the feat - accomplishing it for Croatia in 2013 with 32 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists against Korea.
FIBA archive stats for the first four U19 World Cups (1979, 1983, 1987 and 1991) included only points among the three triple-double stats. Steals first were recorded in 1995 and blocks have only been recorded since 2003.
So, after just one triple-double in 24 years of the competition, fans in Crete saw two triple-doubles recorded in the matter of three days.
Nikita Mikhailovskii collected 20 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists in Russia’s 83-75 victory over Greece on the second gameday of Group C.
The next games in Heraklion were two days later and Guo Haowen registered the next triple-double with 34 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in China's 99-94 win over Puerto Rico.
Guo just missed a second triple-double in Classification 9-16 action with 25 points, 9 rebounds and 12 assists in a 87-84 loss to Latvia. And Senegal point guard Jean-Jacques Boissy had 10 rebounds and 11 assists in Classification 9-16 versus Greece but only made 1 of 11 shots for just 4 points in a 102-97 double overtime loss.
The best performance: Oumar Ballo
Two players finished with the highest average efficiency of 27.0: Filip Petrusev of Serbia and Oumar Ballo of Mali. Petrusev played in seven games and Serbia finished seventh, while Ballo missed the first two games and Mali ended up reaching the Final and making history. So his final games were that much more meaningful.
Ballo was unavailable for Mali's first two games - a victory over Latvia to start the tournament and then a historic second win over Canada. Mali actually lost their first game with Ballo back in the lineup even though he contributed 20 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks in a tight loss to Australia.
Ballo was a massive force in the Round of 16 against New Zealand with 15 points but also 17 rebounds - 7 of them from the offensive glass. He also had 3 assists, 2 steals and 5 blocks. He was just as dominant in the Quarter-Finals versus Puerto Rico with 21 points, 17 rebounds - 8 of them offensive boards, 2 steals and 4 blocks.
Ballo would not be denied in the Semi-Finals against France with 17 points, 11 rebounds, 1 assist and 4 blocks. The fairytale would end in the Final though despite the big man picking up 15 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist and 3 blocks against USA.
For the tournament, Ballo averaged 17.6 points, 11.8 rebounds - 5.2 offensive boards, 1.6 assists, 1.2 steals and 3.8 blocks. He ranked 7th in scoring, 1st in rebounds, 2nd in offensive rebounds and 1st in blocks.
Stats leaders
Points
Player (Country) | Points Per Game |
|---|---|
Marko Pecarski (Serbia) | 22.1 |
Julian Strawther (Puerto Rico) | 22.0 |
Joel Ayayi (France) | 20.9 |
Guo Haowen (China) | 20.1 |
Biram Faye (Senegal) | 19.4 |
Rebounds
Player (Country) | Rebounds Per Game |
|---|---|
Oumar Ballo (Mali) | 11.8 |
Dalibor Ilic (Serbia) | 11.0 |
Filip Petrusev (Serbia) | 10.1 |
Biram Faye (Senegal) | 10.0 |
Max Darling (New Zealand) | 9.3 |
Assists
Player (Country) | Assists Per Game |
|---|---|
Tyrese Haliburton (USA) | 6.9 |
Rodrigo Bumeisters (Latvia) | 5.8 |
Cade Cunningham (USA) | 5.7 |
Guo Haowen (China) | 5.7 |
Jean-Jacques Boissy (Senegal) | 5.6 |
Andrew Curbelo (Puerto Rico) | 5.6 |
Rokas Jokubaitis (Lithuania) | 5.6 |
FIBA