Tennessee freshman Kennedy Chandler played a key role in propelling the United States to the gold medal at the 2021 FIBA U19 World Cup in Riga, Latvia, last weekend.
The 12-man USA Basketball roster defeated Turkey, Mali, Australia, South Korea, Senegal and Canada to set up a showdown with France in Sunday’s gold-medal game. Despite trailing France by five points at halftime as well as the end of the third quarter, the U.S. squad rallied in the fourth to post an 83-81 championship victory. Chandler scored five points and shared the team lead in rebounds with seven in the gold-medal triumph.
Chandler saw action in all seven games and logged the fourth-most minutes on the squad (19.7 mpg) while averaging 7.7 points, 3.4 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 1.4 steals. He shot .420 from the field (21-50) and .391 from 3-point range (9-23) while also boasting a 1.7 assist/turnover ratio throughout the tournament.
With this year’s gold-medal-winning performance, the Americans have claimed back-to-back golds at the FIBA U19 World Cup and have won gold in four of the past five U19 World Cup events (2021, 2019, 2015, 2013). The USA also has won 14 consecutive games at the event dating to 2017.
July 3, 2021 | USA 83, Turkey 54
Chandler – 5 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 24 minutes
July 4, 2021 | USA 100, Mali 52
Chandler – 11 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 2 steals, 16 minutes
July 6, 2021 | USA 87, Australia 66
Chandler – 10 points, 1 rebound, 3 assists, 16 minutes
July 7, 2021 | USA 133, South Korea 60
Chandler – 8 points, 3 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 steals, 22 minutes
July 9, 2021 | USA 88, Senegal 58
Chandler – 8 points, 1 assist, 3 steals, 16 minutes
July 10, 2021 | USA 92, Canada 86
Chandler – 7 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, 18 minutes
July 11, 2021 | USA 83, France 81
Chandler – 5 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 26 minutes
TEAM USA U19 STATS & BOX SCORES
-UT Athletics
