USA Roster for February 2021 FIBA Men’s World Cup Qualifying Games Named

Returning three players with previous USA World Cup Qualifying or AmeriCup Qualifying experience, and featuring 11 athletes possessing NBA regular season experience, USA Basketball today announced its 12-man roster for the February 2021 USA World Cup Qualifying Team.

Selected for the February 2021 USA World Cup Qualifying Team were Jordan Bell (Fort Wayne Mad Ants/Oregon), Tarik Black (Grand Rapids Gold/Kansas), Brian Bowen II (Iowa Wolves), Langston Galloway (College Park Skyhawks/Saint Joseph’s), Jared Harper (Birmingham Squadron/Auburn), Joe Johnson (Free Agent/Arkansas), Juwan Morgan (Maine Celtics/Indiana), Matt Ryan (Grand Rapids Gold/Chattanooga), David Stockton (Memphis Hustle/Gonzaga), Rayjon Tucker (Wisconsin Herd/Little Rock), Paul Watson (Free Agent/Fresno State) and Justin Wright-Foreman (Birmingham Squadro/Hofstra).

Former NBA head coach Jim Boylen, who directed the USA team during the November 2021 World Cup Qualifying games in Chihuahua, Mexico, will again serve as head coach of the USA Basketball Men’s World Cup Qualifying Team. Also returning to the sidelines as assistant coaches are USA Basketball experienced coaches Ty Ellis and Othella Harrington.

The USA squad will open training camp Feb. 18 in Washington, D.C., and will participate in the second competition window of 2021-23 FIBA World Cup Qualifying games that will see the Americans face Puerto Rico (1-1) on Feb. 24 and Mexico (2-0) on Feb. 27. Both games will be played at the Entertainment and Sports Arena in Washington, D.C.

Tickets for both games are now on sale and range from $10 (plus Ticketmaster fees) to $100 (plus Ticketmaster fees) for courtside seating. For ticket information, visit Ticketmaster or USAB.com/tickets. The full 2021-23 FIBA World Cup Qualifying schedule is availablehere.

Bowen, Johnson and Stockton return after playing with previous USA National Teams in FIBA World Cup or AmeriCup qualifying games. Bowen represented the USA in the 2021 November FIBA World Cup Qualifying games and averaged  10.0 points and 6.5 rebounds in two games.

Johnson suited up for the USA with the February 2021 USA Basketball Men’s AmeriCup Qualifying Team. He started in both games and helped the USA to wins over Bahamas (93-77) and Mexico (95-76) while averaging 11.0 points, a team-high 9.0 rebounds, a team-high 7.5 assists. Johnson was also a member of the  bronze medalist 2006 USA World Cup Team.

Stockton  was part of two USA World Cup Qualifying teams, the February 2018 and June/July 2018 U.S. squads, averaging 10.0 points and 3.0 assists.

While 11 of the USA athletes own prior G League experience, 11 also have NBA regular season experience, including Bell (161 games with  Chicago, Golden State, Minnesota, Memphis and Washington), Black (220 games with  Houston and Los Angeles Lakers), Bowen (12 games with Indiana), Galloway ( 452 games with Brooklyn, Detroit, Milwaukee, New Orleans, New York, Phoenix and Sacramento), Harper (13 games with  New Orleans, New York and Phoenix), Johnson (1,277 games with  Atlanta, Boston, Brooklyn, Houston, Miami, Phoenix and Utah), Morgan (51 games with  Toronto and Utah), Stockton (6 games with  Sacramento and Utah), Tucker (37 games with   Denver, Philadelphia and Utah), Watson (46 games with Atlanta, Oklahoma City and Toronto) and Wright-Foreman (4 games with Utah).

Additionally, Bell, as a member of Golden State Warriors, was part of the 2018 NBA Championship Team.

Five players also boast of professional playing experience overseas, including Black (Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv, Israel and Zenit Saint Petersburg, Russia), Bowen (Sydney Kings-Australia), Stockton ( New Zealand Breakers, Australia; Cedevita, Croatia; Medi Bayreuth, Germany; and Mets de Guaynabo, Puerto Rico), Watson (BG Goettingen, Germany), Wright-Foreman ( Socar Petkimspor, Turkey; Chorale Roanne Basket, France).

2021-23 FIBA World Cup Qualifying

Featuring 16 national teams from North America, Central America, South America and the Caribbean, the 2021-23 FIBA World Cup Qualifying Tournament for the Americas zone features four preliminary round groups, and each group consists of four teams. The top three teams from each group will qualify for the second round. Following the second round, the three top teams from each group, and the top fourth-placed team, will qualify for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023.

The USA was drawn into Group D, and is joined by Cuba, Mexico and Puerto Rico. Group A consists of Argentina, Panama, Paraguay and Venezuela; Group B is made up of Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Uruguay; and Group C consists of Bahamas, Canada, Dominican Republic and U.S. Virgin Islands.

A total of 80 national teams from FIBA’s four regions will compete in the FIBA Basketball World Cup Qualifiers over 15 months, looking to earn a qualifying berth into the 32-team FIBA World Cup competition that will be held Aug. 25-Sept. 10, 2023, in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia. The 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup marks the first time multiple countries will host the event.

Under the FIBA World Cup qualifying format, two games per window will be played and a total of six windows will be held to qualify teams for the 2023 World Cup. Each competition window is nine days. The first-round competition windows dates were Nov. 22-30, 2021; Feb. 21-March 1, 2022; and June 27-July 5, 2022; while the second-round dates are set for Aug. 22-30, 2022; Nov. 7-15, 2022; and Feb. 20-28, 2023.

Each FIBA zone will qualify a set number of teams for the 2023 World Cup. Japan and the Philippines automatically will qualify for the 2023 World Cup as host countries, and Indonesia automatically will qualify as a host if it is among the best eight teams out of the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup. Additionally, the top five teams in Africa; the top seven teams in the Americas; the top five or six teams in the Asia/Oceania zone, depending on Indonesia’s results at the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup; and the top 12 teams from Europe will qualify for the 2023 World Cup.