Purdue's Jaden Ivey, Caleb Furst Selected as Finalists for USA Basketball U-19 Team
FORT WORTH, Texas — Purdue basketball players Caleb Furst and Jaden Ivey were selected as two of 17 finalists for the USA Basketball U-19 World Cup Team, the organization announced Monday night.
Ivey and Furst were among 26 players to try out for the team and will now look to make the 12-man roster that will be announced before June 28. The FIBA U-19 World Cup will be held from July 3-11 in Latvia.
Freshman teammate Trey Kaufman-Renn was invited to participate in the tryouts as well but was unable to attend due to a hand injury he suffered in the Indiana-Kentucky All-Star Series.
Furst is one of seven players who are entering their freshman year of college basketball, while Ivey is one of 10 collegiate players to have made the cut.
The 2021 FIBA U-19 World Cup will feature teams from 16 nations in Riga and Daugavpils, Latvia. In addition to the USA and host Latvia, the teams that are taking part in this summer’s U-19 World Cup include Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, France, Japan, Lithuania, Mali, Puerto Rico, Senegal, Serbia, South Korea, Spain and Turkey.
The USA was drawn into Group D, alongside Australia, Mali and Turkey for the three-day FIBA U-19 World Cup preliminary round from July 3 to July 6. The USA will open against Turkey on July 3, followed by Mali on July 4 and finish against Australia on July 6.
Ivey was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman team last season and was mentioned as a preseason All-American for the 2021-22 season. He averaged 11.1 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game as a freshman. Over his last six games last year, he averaged 18.2 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game while shooting 37-of-79 from the field in that span.
He scored 26 points against North Texas, the second-most ever by a Big Ten freshman in an NCAA Tournament debut.
Furst is a 6-foot-10 freshman from Fort Wayne, Indiana, and was named Indiana's Mr. Basketball after a standout career at Blackhawk Christian. Furst led Blackhawk Christian to Indiana State Championships in 2019 and 2021, scoring 2,087 career points while becoming the school's all-time leading scorer and rebounder. He averaged 21.4 points, 14.1 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.2 blocked shots as a senior.
The USA U-19 team will be led by TCU coach Jamie Dixon and assisted by Stanford coach Jerod Haase and Yale coach James Jones.
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