The U.S. Basketball organization has finally announced the 12-player squad that will compete in qualifying for the FIBA Men’s World Cup later on this year. The competition consists of playing only two games in South American territory, which will be the last qualification window to enter the sport’s greatest stage.
The United States’ first contest will be against Uruguay in the country’s capital of Montevideo this next Thursday February 23rd at 7:10 p.m. ET, before travelling to play against Brazil in the city of Santa Cruz do Sul, three days later on Sunday, February 26th also at 7:10 p.m. ET.
The 12 players who were chosen for this challenge usually aren’t the NBA’s biggest stars, as the ‘dirty work’ in qualification is normally played by young players who show promise or experienced players who aren’t playing in the league’s biggest franchises.
In this case, a few of them have professional experience in the NBA, although most of them compete in the G-League, as some actually play in international competitions.
The roster chosen to be the February 2023 USA World Cup Qualifying Team includes Will Davis II, Deonte Burton, Abdul Gaddy, Langston Galloway, Treveon Graham, Elijah Pemberton, Dusty Hannahs, Jay Huff, Xavier Moon, Reggie Perry, Craig Sword, and Nate Hinton.
Let’s get it done fellas 👊
The February 2023 USA Men’s World Cup Qualifying Team for our away matchups at 🇺🇾 & 🇧🇷
»» https://t.co/69KwWfEpoi pic.twitter.com/znzCNxXjVN
— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) February 16, 2023
The athletes who are returning to the roster from the November 2022 USA Basketball Men’s World Cup Qualifying Team are Galloway, Davis II, Sword, and Pemberton. That group of players won their first match against Colombia, only to loose afterwards against Brazil. This means, next Sunday’s clash against the Brazilians The U.S. squad will seek their revenge.
Abdul Gaddy is one of the players with most experience in the selected squad, as he was a member of the 2010 USA U18 National Team that won all five-straight games to conquer the FIBA U18 Americas Championship gold medal. Reggie Perry, on the other hand, also earned a gold medal at the 2011 FIBA U19 World Cup.
As for Treveon Graham, he competed not too long ago on the 2020-21 AmeriCup Qualifying Team that triumphed twice in Window 3 and the 2013 World University Games Team. The first-timers for the USA Basketball selection are Hannahs, Huff, Moon, and Hinton.
As for the USA coaching staff, at the head will be Jim Boylen, who is serving the same role for his sixth-straight tour for the USA Basketball World Cup Qualifying Team. The same situation is for Ty Ellis, who will return as an assistant coach for yet another window, and joined by Mike Wells, who was on staff last November’s South American ties.
After serving as a scout for the February 2020 FIBA AmeriCup Qualifying Team, Sydney Johnson will make his way back to this current staff to USA Basketball.
So the U.S. National Team enters the final window as they lead Group F of FIBA Americas qualifiers. The way this works is that a total of seven teams from the American continent will advance to the 2023 FIBA Men’s World Cup which will be held from August 25 to September 10th, in Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines.
