LJUBLJANA (Slovenia) - The basketball world is still buzzing after Monday's game, in which Mantas Juzenas set the FIBA U20 EuroBasket all-time record for points and efficiency with a 46-point, 12-rebound, 5-assist performance.
He was not only productive but also extremely efficient; going 18-for-26 from the field, 7-for-13 from three-point range, and committing just one turnover.
It was certainly the most impressive performance of Juzenas' career in FIBA competitions, but it was far from the first time he has shown his potential. He was named to the All-Star Five at last year's FIBA U20 EuroBasket after emerging as one of Lithuania's best players during their silver-medal run.
As Lithuania heads into a Round of 16 matchup against Türkiye, we take a closer look at Juzenas' performance throughout the tournament, including his record-breaking game against Poland, and what his play in Ljubljana means for his projection to the highest levels of competition.
Offense
For Juzenas, everything starts with his combination of size and ball-handling ability. At first sight, Juzenas is not the most explosive ball handler. He's certainly not an electric slasher who's going to beat his defender with sheer speed and explosiveness. With each passing possession, however, it becomes clear that he's an incredibly steady ball handler who plays with a ton of poise and is completely undeterred by traffic, defensive pressure, and contact.
Juzenas possesses a unique combination of 2.00m (6ft 7in) size and tremendous fluidity as a ball handler. He's smooth, able to string dribble moves together seamlessly, whether it's crossovers or behind-the-back dribbles, and he's always able to keep his dribble alive.
That allows him to avoid double teams, navigate defenders stunting out of the pick-and-roll, and get into the lane without losing control of the ball and turning it over.
Even when defenders try to cut him off, his ability to keep his dribble alive opens up multiple possibilities for him. The first is simply getting to the rim, and that's where his footwork comes into play.
He has tremendously polished footwork and is incredibly coordinated for his size. He always seems to find open space, whether it's with spin moves, step-throughs, euro steps, or simply by using the gather step to take one or two long strides while changing direction and reacting to the way defenders try to cover him. This consistently allows him to find the open space as he drives to the basket.
When it comes to finishing those opportunities in the paint, some of his physical limitations do come into play, as Juzenas is certainly not an explosive finisher, as shown by the fact that he hasn't recorded a single dunk during the tournament.
Despite those limitations, Juzenas has been tremendously efficient, as he's shooting 70.6 percent at the rim during the tournament.
How does he do it, then?
The first aspect is his poise and ability to play through contact around the basket, which allows him to finish tough off-balance layups through contact. The other is the size. Despite not being the quickest or most explosive player, his combination of 2.00m size and fluidity makes him an absolute nightmare for smaller defenders.
Once he's bringing the ball up the floor - which he does a lot, especially after defensive rebounds - and he sees a smaller defender matched up against him, he has the mentality, aggressiveness, and toughness to attack. Even though he's not always able to blow by those defenders, he's able to put a body on them and take advantage of his combination of size, fluidity, and footwork to punish those mismatches and finish over them, making him extremely difficult for perimeter defenders to contain.
When defenders are able to cut him off and clog those driving lanes, he counters with two aspects of his game that have steadily improved throughout the tournament and really came together in the game against Poland.
The first one is his playmaking for others. During the first few games of the competition, Juzenas was more content taking tough shots and occasionally dribbling himself into difficult situations.
Against Poland, however, it was clear that he was consistently making the right play, recognizing open teammates and taking advantage of the attention he commands from defenses as a player who is so difficult to stop once he gets downhill.
The first level of his passing is his reactive playmaking on drives and in transition, which is one of the strongest aspects of his game. When defenders cut off his driving lanes, he's able to kick the ball out to open shooters on the strong side or dish it to the big man in the restricted area.
This is another area where his size plays a huge role: at 2.00m, he's able to see over smaller defenders and deliver passes from angles and at heights that many defenders simply can't reach.
Juzenas has also been able to run the pick-and-roll effectively, making quick reads whenever he faces a double team. He can dump the ball off to the rolling big man or, on occasion, thread the needle with advanced deliveries through traffic. The most impressive aspect of his passing, however, is his ability to consistently make skip passes to shooters on the weak side.
Those passes force the entire defense to shift and often create offensive advantages in the form of open three-pointers or hard closeouts.
It's been really interesting to watch his growth as a playmaker over these first three days, especially how much more comfortable he looked on the final day against Poland. That's a crucial development for someone who doesn't necessarily have the elite quickness or shiftiness to consistently create advantages off the dribble.
If he continues making those reads, he'll avoid dribbling himself into impossible situations because he'll always have a passing outlet available.
For all the usage he's had in this tournament as Lithuania's primary on-ball creator, he's also done an excellent job taking care of the basketball. He's averaging 2.3 assists to just 1.1 turnovers per game.
The final piece of the puzzle has been his shooting and his ability to create his own jump shot.
This is another area of his game that has steadily improved throughout the tournament. Juzenas made just one of his first nine three-point attempts before exploding for seven threes on 13 attempts against Poland.
He's now shooting 36.4 percent from beyond the arc, and that's even more impressive when you consider that 14 of his 22 three-point attempts have come off the dribble, which are generally much tougher shots.
The mechanics are certainly solid, making him a respectable catch-and-shoot threat. They're repeatable, compact, and he shoots an easy ball. It's easy to envision him thriving as an off-ball shooter, especially when you consider his ability to rise quickly on relocations, come off off-ball screens, and knock down shots under defensive pressure.
The most impressive part, however, has been his pull-up shooting. This is where the same ball-handling ability, smoothness, fluidity, and footwork that make him so effective attacking the basket also translate into his shooting.
In isolation, he's consistently able to create separation with sidesteps, step-backs, and other dribble moves, generating enough space to get his shot off.
His pull-up game has been especially valuable for Juzenas. In those possessions where he's unable to turn the corner and get to the rim because of his lack of elite quickness, he's able to rely on his footwork, deceleration, and touch on off-balance shots to stop on a dime and convert pull-up jumpers over smaller defenders from the mid-range.
Those difficult jumpers are a byproduct of him not always being able to beat his defender, but they've also become legitimate weapons that force defenders to respect his shot.
Against Poland, as his jumper started falling, you could see him use shot fakes, rip-throughs, and other moves to get defenders off balance, which in turn allowed him to create easier driving opportunities for himself.
Defense
As Lithuania's primary offensive option, Juzenas hasn't been tasked with carrying a major defensive workload, but he has still found ways to contribute.
There are certainly some physical limitations. His wingspan was measured at 1.99m at Basketball Without Borders in 2024, which is below average for his position and limits his ability to create defensive events in the passing lanes, contest shots, and protect the rim.
With that being said, Juzenas is far from a defensive liability. As an on-ball defender, he's capable of staying in front of opponents and contesting shots effectively. While he's not the quickest player laterally, he's mobile enough to stay in front and contain most of the drives he's defended on an island.
The other area where he's consistently added value is on the glass. Juzenas has recorded double-doubles in two of his three games and currently ranks second in the tournament with 9.3 rebounds per game. He's constantly aware of the ball on both ends of the floor, and as soon as a shot goes up, he's attacking the glass, whether on offense or defense.
His toughness and his ability to play through contact allow him to consistently come up with rebounds in traffic, which is especially valuable offensively, as his ball-handling ability allows him to kick-start transition immediately after a defensive rebound, giving Lithuania another offensive weapon.
Outlook
Juzenas delivered one of the most memorable performances in FIBA U20 EuroBasket history, but a deeper dive into his tape suggests that it was far more than just a flash in the pan.
His combination of size, smooth ball-handling ability, creative footwork, consistent shooting both off the catch and off the dribble, and steadily improving playmaking all point to a player who has the skills to become a complete offensive threat at the next level.
Juzenas played just five minutes per game during his freshman season at St. Mary's, a program that has become something of a destination for Lithuanian players in recent years, with recent success stories like Augustas Marciulionis and Paulius Murauskas developing into multiple-time All-Conference players for the Gaels.
Based on his play in Ljubljana, Juzenas could be the next player to break through for St. Mary's, with an increased role and more playing time potentially coming as soon as next season.
FIBA