MIES (Switzerland) - We all love numbers and stats. They represent such a huge part of the game and the discussion about it.
Looking ahead to the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2025, we scoured through the archives to find some of the key stats that you need to know. And here is a selection of some of them.
0 - THE NUMBER OF PLAYERS WHO HAVE WON THREE FIBA YOUTH WORLD CUP TITLES
A number of players in international basketball history have collected two FIBA Youth World Cup crowns. Jayson Tatum, Jahlil Okafor, Jalen Green and Scott Barnes are a selection of the USA players who won both the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup and FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup. But no player has claimed three such trophies.
That could change in Lausanne as Koa Peat can achieve the feat after winning the FIBA U17 World Cup in 2022 and 2024.
1 - ONLY ONCE HAS A FIBA U19 WORLD CUP GAME GONE INTO TRIPLE-OVERTIME
In the "And the band played on and on and on ... " category, the FIBA U19 World Cup has witnessed only one triple-overtime game. Tyler Ennis poured in 42 points as Canada out-lasted China 110-100 in Classification 5-8 action in 2013.
3 - FIVE MORE MINUTES TO DECIDE THE CHAMPION
Speaking of overtime, 40 minutes have not been enough to decide the champion three times with three Finals needing an extra five-minute session. The first Final to reach overtime came in 1991 when USA defeated Italy 90-85. The Americans survived Croatia in overtime in 2015 with a 79-71 victory. And then Spain downed France 73-69 in overtime in the 2023 Final.
3 - LET'S PLAY 10 MORE MINUTES
And one more on overtimes ... there have been three games to go into double-overtime. Croatia beat Slovenia 113-103 in Quarter-Final round group play in 2003; Egypt needed 50 minutes to down China 100-96 in the 2011 group stage; and Greece got the best of Senegal 102-97 in double-OT in a Classification 9-16 game.
3 - THE MVP DOESN'T ALWAYS COME FROM THE CHAMPIONS
The Most Valuable Player has not always come from the championship-winning team. Three times it has gone to a player whose team did not hoist the trophy. Yugoslavia finished fourth in 1991 but Dejan Bodiroga was named MVP. Russian Andrei Kirilenko took home individual honors despite his team ending in sixth place in 1999. And Mario Delas was given the MVP award in helping Croatia taking third place in 2009.
3 - WELCOME TO THE FIBA U19 WORLD CUP
Three nations will be making their debut at the FIBA U19 World Cup this summer: hosts Switzerland, Cameroon and Israel. This comes after hosts Hungary and Madagascar made their maiden appearance in 2023. Oddly enough, there were no debutants in 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2021 after each of the first 11 FIBA U19 World Cups had at least two new nations make the field.
5 - TRIPLE-DOUBLES NOT AS RARE AS THEY ONCE WERE
When it comes to stats, triple-doubles is one of the most talked about and those have started becoming more common. The first documented triple-double came from Efthimios Rentzias (33 points 21 rebounds 10 blocks) in Greece’s win over Australia in the FIBA U19 World Cup 1995 Final. Dario Saric collected the first FIBA official triple-double (32 points 12 rebounds 12 assists) against Korea in 2013.
Nikita Mikhailovskii registered the feat (20 points 13 rebounds 12 assists) for Russia versus Greece in 2019. On the next day of action in Greece, China's Haowen Guo picked up a triple-double of his own (34 points 11 rebounds 11 assists) versus Puerto Rico. Japan's John Harper Jr has the most recent triple-double (10 points 13 rebounds 13 assists) against Korea in 2021.
The first four FIBA U19 World Cups (1979, 1983, 1987 and 1991) included only points among the three triple-double stats. And blocks have only been recorded since 2003.
8 - NO COUNTRY CLOSE TO USA
United States have dominated this competition with eight championships in 16 editions. That is six more than the next-closest nation Spain, who have two titles (1999 and 2023) as the only other country with multiple trophies. Australia (2003 winners), Canada (2017) and Serbia (2007) all have the chance in Lausanne of becoming the third country with more than one crown.
9 - LIGHTING IT UP FROM OUTSIDE
Nine is the magic number for three-pointers as five players have drained nine triples in a game. The most recent instance came in 2015 when Korean Hyunwoo Jeon hit 9 of 13 three-point attempts in scoring 31 points against Serbia in group play.
9 - THANK YOU VERY MUCH, I WILL TAKE THAT BALL
Nine is also the record for steals as Argentina's Pepe Sanchez swiped nine balls from Nigeria in 1995.
9 - NOT IN MY HOUSE
The official FIBA record for blocks is nine - done three times and twice by China big man Qi Zhou in 2013 (versus Russia and Canada). Blocks have only been recorded since 2003. Though it has been documented that Greece's Efthimios Rentzias registered 10 blocks (as part of his triple-double - see above) against Australia in the FIBA U19 World Cup 1995 Final.
14 - A PASS FOR YOU, A PASS FOR YOU AND A PASS FOR YOU
When it comes to dealing the dimes, the all-time single game record holder is France's Alexandre Bouzidi. The playmaker dished out 14 assists against Madagascar in the 2023 edition.
19 - THERE'S ON FIRE AND THEN THERE'S CHINA IN 2013
The hottest outside shooting night by any team came in the Classification 7-8 game in 2013 when China drained 19 three-pointers - on 34 attempts for 56 percent - against Croatia. Shang Gao made 8 of them and Shuai Yuan knocked down 7 triples.
25 - CLEANING THE GLASS
If you are looking for the most dominant performance on the glass, that came from Andrew Bogut in the 2003 title run. The Australian snatched 25 rebounds in the final group play game against Korea and then followed that with 25 boards in his historic Semi-Finals performance (he also had 39 points for an efficiency of 54) against Croatia.
54 - JUMP ON MY BACK
When it comes to scoring, nobody has ever done it better than Michael Rosario. The Puerto Rican was unstoppable against France in 2009 Eight-Final round action. He poured in 54 points and the team needed every one of them as Puerto Rico won 90-89.
150 - SIMPLY UNSTOPPABLE
When looking to see which team scored the most points you have to go all the way back to the first day of the first FIBA U19 World Cup. Argentina dropped a century and a half in a 150-44 victory over Egypt. Daniel Arejula and Julio Politi both scored 20 points in the win.
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