Former Gonzaga star Filip Petrusev goes for gold with Serbia at 2023 FIBA World Cup

As Serbia and Germany go head-to-head in the 2023 FIBA World Cup final on Sunday, former Gonzaga men's basketball standout Filip Petrusev has an opportunity to do something no one in program history has accomplished — win a gold medal at the World Cup.

Many former Zags, including Petrusev, have shined in global tournaments in the past, but none have risen to the top of the basketball world to this scale since John Stockton took home gold at the 1996 Olympic Games. And on Sunday, Petrusev will have a chance to join the NBA Hall-of-Famer as the only player in Gonzaga's history with three gold medals to their name.

But first, Petrusev and Serbia will have their hands full with a potent Germany squad coming off a stunning 113-111 upset of Team USA in the semifinals. Despite being double-digit underdogs, the Germans led the Americans throughout the game behind the efforts of Andreas Obst (24 points), Franz Wagner (22 points) and Daniel Theis (21 points). Germany dominated down low with 25 second-chance points to Team USA's eight.

Serbia pulled off an upset of its own Friday with a win over a stacked Canada squad that featured plenty of NBA talent. Bogdan Bogdanovic, Serbia's catalyst throughout the tournament, led the way once again with 23 points to help the Serbs advance to their second World Cup final in their last three tournaments. And all without arguably its best player, reigning NBA Finals MVP Nikola Jokic.

“Nobody believed but we didn’t care about anybody,” Petrusev said after Serbia's win in the semifinals. “We just had fun with each other. It’s a great group of guys, great chemistry, and when you have good chemistry and great players, anything can happen. We believed and we’re here.”

Petrusev played a pivotal role throughout Serbia's run for gold. He had a 17-point performance in the quarterfinals against Lithuania, which followed a 14-point effort in a must-win scenario against the Dominican Republic. Playing time has been inconsistent for the Serbian forward though, as he sat out two first-round matchups and only played 10 minutes against Canada.

But when given an opportunity, Petrusev has come through in big moments on the international stage before. He led Serbia to gold at the FIBA Europe U18 Championships in 2018, when he averaged 21.0 points and 8.7 rebounds. In the championship game against Latvia, he scored 29 points, grabbed 8 rebounds and shot 10-for-18 from the field to take home the gold medal.

That would be an ideal stat line for Serbia on Sunday, especially if starting big man Nikola Milutinov has another outstanding performance like he did against Canada. It won't be easy though, as the Germans limited Team USA's frontcourt of Jaren Jackson Jr. and Bobby Portis to 13 points and 5 rebounds combined. Serbia will also look to slow down the Wagner brothers, who combined for 32 points against the Americans.

But if Germany shoots 57.7% from the field and knocks down 13 3-pointers, it'll be a difficult task for the Serbs to keep up.

It's not the matchup many expected to see in the gold medal game, but still expect plenty of high-quality basketball to be on display when Serbia and Germany meet on Sunday.