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LSU Basketball's Adam Miller Finalist For USA Basketball's U19 Team

BATON ROUGE – LSU basketball guard Adam Miller has been named one of 17 finalists for the 2021 USA Basketball Men’s U19 World Cup Team announced Monday night at the team’s training camp in Fort Worth, Texas. 

by Kent Lowe | Sr. Assoc. Communications Director
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LSU Basketball's Adam Miller Finalist For USA Basketball's U19 Team

BATON ROUGE – LSU basketball guard Adam Miller has been named one of 17 finalists for the 2021 USA Basketball Men’s U19 World Cup Team announced Monday night at the team’s training camp in Fort Worth, Texas. 

The cut to the top 17 players came after four practice sessions over two days at TCU that involved 26 players. The list of finalists includes 10 players who completed their first collegiate season in 2020-21 and seven players from the high school class of 2021. 

Miller, who played at Illinois in 2021 before entering the transfer portal and moving to LSU, is a 6-3 guard from Chicago, Illinois. He averaged 8.3 points and led all Big 10 freshmen in scoring with 52 three-pointers. Miller was a finalist at the June 2018 USA Men’s U17 World Cup Team trials.

Selections were made by the USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team Committee. Athletes eligible for this team must be 19 years old or younger (born on or after Jan. 1, 2002.)

“Every one of the 26 players here put in a lot of effort and showcased high level skill sets for the committee to consider which is what made things so difficult. The 17 finalists we identified offer coach (Jamie) Dixon and his coaching staff outstanding athleticism and versatility, and it puts us in excellent position to name the best possible USA team for the FIBA U19 World Cup,” said Matt Painter, USA Basketball Junior National Team Committee chair and Purdue head coach.

The finalists will continue training twice a day in Fort Worth and the final 12-member USA U19 World Cup Team will be announced prior to the team’s June 28 departure for Latvia, with the 2021 FIBA U19 World Cup taking playing from July 3-11.
 
Dixon, head coach at TCU, will lead the USA U19 World Cup Team with assistance from Stanford University head coach Jerod Haase and Yale University head coach James Jones. Oklahoma State head coach Mike Boynton, University of North Texas head coach Grant McCasland and Towson University head coach Pat Skerry have been serving at the U19 World Cup training camp as court coaches.
 
Featuring U19 teams from 16 nations, the 2021 FIBA U19 World Cup is scheduled to be held July 3-11 in Riga and Daugavpils, Latvia. In addition to the USA and host Latvia, teams that will take part in this summer’s U19 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 July 3-6 FIBA U19 World Cup preliminary round. The USA will open play against Turkey on July 3, followed by Mali on July 4 and close preliminary play against Australia on July 6.
 
Reigning FIBA U19 World Cup gold medalist, USA men’s teams have won seven gold medals, three silver medals and one bronze medal while compiling an 99-14 overall record in U19 World Cup play since the event was launched in 1979. Even more impressive, the USA has won four of the past six U19 golds since 2009.