MANILA (Philippines) - Puerto Rico hold destiny in their own hands one victory over Italy from reaching the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Quarter-Finals. Leader Tremont Waters insists the team has reached this point after learning how to lose.

Waters has silently become one of the most thrilling players at the World Cup, highlighted by him scoring 37 points and dishing out 11 assists in a wild 102-97 shootout over FIBA Americas rivals Dominican Republic.

"I'm trying to will my team to winning. I think I am doing a pretty good job of it. They are listening and telling me what I can do better. We have moments where we go back and forth but that is just part of the brotherhood. We are a young team and have ups and downs. We’re just being resilient," Waters said.

The 25-year-old is a major reason Puerto Rico are on the brink of their first top-eight showing at the World Cup since 2002. Waters ranks seventh in scoring at 21.8 points per game; second in assists with 9.3 dimes per game; and tops in steals with 3.0 swipes per game. The 1.80m (5ft 11in) point guard also has grabbed 4.5 rebounds and shot 42 percent from deep and made 15-of-16 free throws (94 percent).

"He's amazing. It's amazing to see every day and he continues to do it. We just want to surround him with the right pieces and the right people to give him that support," said fellow guard Jordan Howard.

Waters, who three times thus far has been named TCL Player of the Game, is still young in the game. He bounced between the NBA and the G-League for three seasons, playing 40 NBA games between the 2019-20 and 2021-22 campaigns for Boston, Toronto and Washington.

Last season Waters made his debut in Europe and had a major learning experience, playing for Metropolitans 92 alongside the future NBA number one draft pick Victor Wembanyama and for France national team head coach Vincent Collet.

"It was crazy, a once-in-a-lifetime thing - when you can play with someone who is 7-5 and can move how he is capable of moving," Waters said playing of with Wembanyama. "His IQ is one of the craziest things I have seen at his size and age."

Waters, who averaged 18.2 points, 2.7 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 2.0 steals in 23 games, said he learned a lot from Collet.

"How to be an even more poised point guard and keep getting my teammates involved and just know that every game means something," Waters said.

Waters has needed that poise with this Puerto Rico group. He is one of seven Puerto Rican players who are 27 years or younger. Many of them are playing on the big stage for the first time, and Puerto Rico federation general manager and former legend Carlos Arroyo prepared a tough exhibition schedule before the World Cup.

Puerto Rico out-scored Dominican Republic 93-86 at home to start August and then Waters and co. were blown out by 43 points against United States, lost by 33 to Italy, by 35 against Serbia, by 13 versus Lithuania and by 12 points against Latvia.

"We all are the man on our teams, but we were able to play against those teams and kind of grow through the process, take our losses, but know that it's gonna build us into something," Waters said of the 1-7 mark in the build-up to the World Cup.

"It was a tough schedule but I feel it definitely prepared us to play under pressure and know what we can do. We some games by more than 25 points, so in those moments we had to just stay together and not come apart. We learned from that. You have to know how to lose to learn how to win."

Having taken his lumps, Waters and Puerto Rico have definitely learned how to win - and they are doing just that.

FIBA