SANTA CRUZ (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers) - For years, the United States were used to avoiding continental qualifiers to the Basketball World Cup or the Olympic Games, thanks to their mastery of these events.

However, just like the rest of the FIBA world, the North American squad are now immersed in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 China Qualifiers, where they will try to achieve, for the third concurrent time, their world title.

Last November, with a great deal of the side that took the gold medal at the FIBA AmeriCup 2017, United States started with strength the Group D Americas Qualifiers, with a strong victory against Puerto Rico and a comfortable win against Mexico.

For the second window —starting on Friday— Team USA (2-0) will play for the first time against Cuba (0-2) with a rebuilt roster; but according to coach Jeff Van Gundy, the new players desire to represent their country and qualify for another FIBA Basketball World Cup.

“Our guys are incredibly invested, they’re excited about the opportunity to represent their country and also excited about the opportunity to play in some very, very meaningful games to hopefully get our national team qualified for the (FIBA) World Cup,” Jeff Van GundyJeff Van Gundy

In comparison with the team that played in November, Van Gundy’s five will only bring back two players (Larry Drew II and Travis Wear) for this window's matches, since many of the ballers that were in the first window recently signed contracts with the NBA.

At the last minute, the USA had to make changes to their roster and added guard Damion Lee, who will replace Marcus Thorton —who signed a 10-day contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The rest of the team is comprised by Taylor Braun, Alonzo Gee, Aaron Harrison, Rodney Purvis, Xavier Silas, David Stockton, Rashawn Thomas, Devin Williams and Derek Willis.

“We’ve had unusual roster turnover. We’ve had a couple of guys thankfully get called up to the NBA (Trey McKinney Jones and Marcus Thornton). So, we’re incredibly excited for them, but also we’re excited about their replacements Derek Willis and Damion Lee, and we really feel that even though we’ve had short amount of practice time, we’re well prepared,” stressed Van Gundy, who has a 7-0 record as coach of the senior USA basketball team.

Harrison, the squad’s shooting guard, backed his coach’s words.

“We're very excited (for this window's games). We can't wait to be on the court,” said Harrison.
United States will play their two games this window in Santa Cruz, California. On Friday they will face Cuba, and Puerto Rico on Monday.

FIBA