MIES (Switzerland) - The FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2024 proved no challenge for USA, who rolled from record to record in claiming a seventh consecutive title - once again without losing a game.
Italy made history by reaching the Final and grabbing a spot on the podium for the first time. Third place meanwhile went to hosts Türkiye, their first hardware since taking second in 2016.
Other highlights included New Zealand matching their country's greatest basketball performance by finishing fourth; while France went home massively disappointed in ninth place and Australia crashed to 15th place. In addition, Guinea star guard Abdouramane Toure evened the scoring record with 50 points for the debutants from Africa.
The best team: USA
Rank | Team | W-L |
1. | USA | 7-0 |
2. | Italy | 4-3 |
3. | Türkiye | 5-2 |
4. | New Zealand | 4-3 |
5. | Lithuania | 5-2 |
6. | Puerto Rico | 3-4 |
7. | Spain | 5-2 |
8. | Canada | 3-4 |
9. | France | 4-3 |
10. | Argentina | 3-4 |
11. | Germany | 3-4 |
12. | Egypt | 1-6 |
13. | China | 3-4 |
14. | Guinea | 2-5 |
15. | Australia | 4-3 |
16. | Philippines | 0-7 |
The more things change the more they stay the same ... USA went undefeated in winning the U17 World Cup for a seventh time in a row. They started with a 23-point win over France and followed that by beating Guinea by 75 points and China by 84 points to finish the group stage. The Americans rolled past Philippines by 96 to open the Knockout Phase. They eased past Canada by 51 points in the Quarter-Finals and then shrugged off New Zealand by 80 points in the Semi-Finals. USA did not slow down in the Final, beating Italy by 41 points.
The best video: Re-watch the Final between USA and Italy
USA reaching the Final was no suprise but their opponents at the Sinan Erdem Dome did raise some eyebrows. Italy had bounced back from losing their first two games to storm into the title game - making history along the way by reaching the Quarter-Finals for the first time and then winning in the Semi-Finals to secure their first podium finish.
Italy's strong generation of Maikcol Perez, Diego Garavaglia, Achille Lonati and Diego Suigo could not handle the American pressure from the get-go in falling behind 32-19 after 10 minutes. And the game was decided at halftime with the score 73-36. Italy showed in the third quarter why they did reach the Final by playing it even 27-27 and they only lost the final frame 29-25.
All told, it was a dominant 129-88 USA victory. Koa Peat led the Americans with 26 points while Cameron Boozer had 24 points and 13 rebounds, Tyran Stokes scored 17 points and AJ Dybantsa chipped in 14 points. At the other end, Lonati paced the Italians with 20 points while Perez flirted with a triple-double as he collected 18 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists and Adrian Mathis tallied 18 points.
The best player: Cameron Boozer MVP
Cameron Boozer was a no-brainer for Most Valuable Player as the big man was an absolute force for the title-winning USA. Boozer averaged 20.1 points on 70 percent shooting, 9.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 2.7 steals for an average efficiency of 30.7. He did all that in just over 20 minutes per game.
Boozer ranked second in scoring, fourth in rebounds, tied for sixth in steals and first in effiency. In fact, Boozer's average effiency was the highest in U17 World Cup history, eclipsing the previous mark of Oumar Ballo's 28.4 for Mali in 2018.
Boozer collected five double-doubles, including 29 points and 12 rebounds in the big opening game win over France. He tallied 24 points on 9 of 13 shots and 5 of 6 free throws, 13 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals in the victory over Italy in the Final for an efficiency of 37. That broke the record for the highest effiency in a Final, bettering the mark of Cooper Flagg's 30 in the USA's 2022 Final win over Spain.
Boozer contributed 17 points, 10 rebounds and 6 steals in the group stage against Guinea; had 20 points in just 14 minutes against Philippines in the Round of 16; and contributed 18 points and 11 rebounds versus New Zealand in the Semi-Finals.
Boozer was joined on the All-Tournament team by the USA teammate AJ Dybantsa, Maikcol Perez of Italy, Kaan Onat of Türkiye and New Zealand's Oscar Goodman.
The best game: Italy vs Australia - Round of 16
Italy struggled coming out of the gates in the tournament with losses to Argentina and Türkeye to start. But they regrouped to beat New Zealand by 26 points to finish the group stage. Australia for their part grabbed three victories in their group.
The Italians fell behind by 19 points midway through the third quarter but rallied back to beat Australia 95-91 in overtime to reach the Quarter-Finals. Diego Garavaglia had 19 points and 9 rebounds, Maikcol Perez nearly had a triple-double with 18 points, 11 rebounds and 9 assists and Achille Lonati chipped in 13 points for the winners. Ajak Nyuon led the Australians with 22 points while Dash Daniels was also close to a triple-double with 16 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists.
The Crocs opened the first double-digit lead at 25-15 in the second quarter. Italy got back into the game and trailed 41-35 at intermission. The Oceanians scored the first 13 points of the second half and built a 54-35 lead with 7 minutes left in the third quarter. The cushion was still 60-44 but Italy trimmed it to 63-57 after 30 minutes. The Europeans would tie the game 74-74 with 2 minutes to play. Indy Cotton buried a triple with 43 seconds left for a 79-74 Australia lead. Mattia Ceccato answered with a three-pointer and Italy immediately stole the inbounds pass and Garavaglia scored to send the game to overtime 79-79. Lonati hit two triples and a layup in the extra session to help Italy take a nine-point lead. Australia pulled within two points in the final minute but Lonati knocked down another triple for the win.
Italy would take the momentum and go all the way to the Final while Australia would lose their next two games to France and Guinea and ended up rolling Philippines for 15th place - the country's worst-ever U17 World Cup showing.
France crashes to ninth after two shocking losses
France came into the 2024 edition thinking it might actually have a chance of giving USA a fight for the gold medal. Things turned out very very different than the Europeans had hoped.
France started the tournament in solid fashion, keeping up with the Americans for about 25 minutes before losing 104-81 in the opening game of the group. France could not have expected the next game though as they were shocked by China 73-70 to fall to 0-2. The French rebounded well with a 100-70 victory over Guinea to at least secure second place in the group - and know they would avoid playing USA until the Final.
Puerto Rico put a serious monkey wrench in those plans in the Round of 16. Felipe Quinones proved completely unstoppable in scoring 42 points as the FIBA Americas side destroyed France's dreams with a 91-84 upset. France would rebound and win their final three games to salvage at least ninth place. But France came to Istanbul with podium expectations.
New Zealand take fourth place, match 2002 FIBA World Cup legends
New Zealand basketball fans will forever remember the 2024 U17 World Cup as their beloved Tall Blacks reached the Semi-Finals for the first time in history - finishing in fourth place. After knocking off Egypt in the Round of 16, Oscar Goodman and co. pulled off a major upset by beating Lithuania 73-64 in the Quarter-Finals to book their spot among the top four.
Goodman collected 19 points with 10 rebounds to lead five Kiwis in double figures including Jackson Kiss with 17 points and 8 rebounds and Hayden Jones with 13 points and 13 rebounds including two free throws with 31 seconds to make it 70-65.
The fourth place matched the best performance in New Zealand's basketball history with the team that sensationally reached the Semi-Finals of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2002. And there was a connection to the teams as Jones is the son of Phil Jones, who was a major part of the team back in 2002.
Abdouramane Toure ties record with 50 points for historic Guinea
Guinea had a pretty exciting first appearance at the FIBA U17 World Cup as the African nation finished 14th with wins over China in their opening game and then Australia in Classification 13-16. Guinea also saw one of their stars enter the record books as Abdouramane Toure tied the single game scoring mark with 50 points. That evened the record with Dzanan Musa of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2016.
The forward made 21 of 27 shots including 6 of 11 three-pointers and 2 of 2 free throws in Guinea's 105-101 loss to China in the Classification 13-14 game. The 21 made field goals is a new record, topping the previous mark of 18 by Musa. The Bosnia and Herzegovina international star set the scoring record in the Classification 9-16 at the 2016 U17 World Cup with 50 points against Chinese Taipei.
Toure also chipped in 2 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 steal for an efficiency of 51 - which is the third-best in history. The only two players with a more efficient game were Isaac Humphries of Australia with 56 in 2014 and Mali's Oumar Ballo with 53 in 2018.
Records galore
The 2024 U17 World Cup could go down in history as the most dominant USA performance ever. The Americans broke one record after the next as they improved to 51-0 all-time in the competition. Their average winning margin in 2024 was 64.3 points per game, which obliterated their previous best of 53.7 points per game difference in 2018.
They set a new all-time single-game scoring record with 146 points and broke the Semi-Finals scoring record with 145 points while registering the biggest winning margin in Semi-Finals history (80 points). USA set a new record for assists in three straight games (49 being the new record) and eclipsed the single-game efficiency record (225). They also swiped a record 33 steals and forced the most turnovers in Semi-Finals history (37) among other new marks.
Stats leaders
Scorers
Player | Points Per Game |
Abdouramane Toure (GUI) | 23.0 |
Cameron Boozer (USA) | 20.1 |
Tyler Kropp (ARG) | 20.0 |
Arafan Diane (GUI) | 19.1 |
Kaan Onat (TUR) | 18.9 |
Rebounds
Player | Rebounds Per Game |
Arafan Diane (GUI) | 11.7 |
Arturas Butajevas (LTU) | 11.3 |
Ignacio Campoy (ESP) | 10.0 |
Cameron Boozer (USA) | 9.9 |
Declan Duru (GER) | 8.6 |
Assists
Player | Assists Per Game |
Cayden Boozer (USA) | 6.4 |
JJ Mandaquit (USA) | 6.1 |
Tyran Stokes (USA) | 5.6 |
Dovydas Buika (LTU) | 4.8 |
Kaan Onat (TUR) | 4.7 |