My takes on Day Three at FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2026

The biggest story of the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2026 after three days of action has to be Türkiye’s new dynamic duo K&K. Ömer Kutluay and Darius Karutasu teamed up for another amazing collective performance to keep the hosts undefeated as the Knockout Phase is set.

Ladies and gentlemen … we have a bracket!

Before we review the final games in group play, let’s hit you with some notes about the Round of 16.

With six European teams in the field, it should be noted that at least three European teams have reached the Quarter-Finals in every previous FIBA U17 World Cup. The most was six European nations in 2022 (all five qualified teams plus hosts Spain).

Now it’s time to shock you … France and China have played three times in the FIBA U17 World Cup - and France have never won (!). Yep, China won in the group stages in 2012 and the debacle from 2024 and also in the game for seventh place in 2014.

One more note and that is about the Puerto Rico vs Côte d’Ivoire matchup. Puerto Rico have never missed the Quarter-Finals in 2014, 2018 and 2024. Côte d’Ivoire meanwhile have the best chance to become the first African team to reach the Quarters - and become one of the top eight teams in the world.

As if Türkiye’s Ömer Kutluay and Darius Karutasu had not already wowed us enough in the first two games of the tournament. K&K just keep giving us all the goodness - tormenting a feisty Puerto Rico side that had no chance in losing by 21.

Kutluay not only scored 32 points - including 17 of 19 free throws (a new U17 World Cup record for most made foul shots) - he also had 7 rebounds, 12 assists and 1 steal. The 12 assists pulled him even for third place for the most dimes in a game.

Kutluay was truly like a blur for Puerto Rico - just like he has been all tournament. The son of Turkish legend Ibrahim Kutluay is averaging an outrageous 32.3 points, 7.7 rebounds and 10.3 assists.

Karutasu meanwhile isn’t too far behind as he totalled 23 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 5 steals against Puerto Rico. The long, lanky wing is just a force - collecting 27.0ppg 11.3rpg 1.7agp 2.7spg while shooting 62.5%/45.0%/77.8% and committing only 2.7 turnovers in 37 minutes per game.

Türkiye this time around got two other players in double figures - Noyan Tolan 12pt and Omer Sik 11pt. The hosts have been bouyed by a great Basketball Development Center crowd and should have little problems in the Round of 16 against Venezuela.

At the other end, Puerto Rico will be aggravated that they lost to the hosts - their first loss of the event. DJ Gaines had 19pt 5as just didn’t have enough support to beat a team like Türkiye.

Nothing new here … USA roll to another victory to stay undefeated. The seven-time reigning champions are still perfect in the history of the competition as seven players scored in double figures in a 131-80 blowout of Italy.

In a rematch of the FIBA U17 World Cup 2024 Final, USA never were threatened, taking the rebound battle 62-31 including 29 offensive rebounds. It’s hard not to like CJ Rosser, who used his powerful yet slender and long frame for 22pt 6rb while Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje collected 16pt 11rb 4st 2bl in 22 min, Cayden Daughtry had 19pt 9as and Xavier Young contributed 16pt 9rb 3as 3st.

As usual for USA teams, the production is just never-ending in terms of depth - not to mention sharing ball to the tune of 37 assists. USA will next meet Cameroon in the Round of 16 - in a matchup that could see more records broke.

On the other end, Simone Ventura stood strong against the US pressure and size with 20pt on 8/12fg. The Italians next have a tasty matchup with Canada - a team that has some similarities to the USA in terms of athleticism.

Lithuania have shown all tournament just how strong they are as a team and unit and that was on display again in their final game against China. The youngsters from China have impressed and this game was one of the most anticipated ones coming into the day.

It was a battle for a while before Lithuania pushed the lead out to 15 points late in the third quarter. Things got quite edgy in the closing minute as a push by Joris Sinica resulted in a mini fight with his teammate Benas Birzinis throwing a couple of haymakers and getting disqualified along with Yao Jiaze. Sinica and the initial pushee Zhang Chunzhi were also handed unsportsmanlike fouls and ejected.

While you never want to see such a scene, both teams can probably be happy about their players having each others backs - especially the young Chinese for not backing down.

Birzinis had been too tough all game for the Asians with 14 points and 16 rebounds while the Zalgiris Kaunas duo of Jokubas Kukta and Kristupas Sabeckas combined for 25pt 4rb 12as 3st. Gabrielius Buivydas has yet to really shine as many expected. Sure he is averaging 13.3pt 3.3rb 3.7rb, but he is also committing 3.7to per game and his +/- in Lithuania’s two tough games against Canada and China were -6 and -8, respectively and +15 in the blowout of Cameroon.

Okay, I am not the biggest fan of the +/- stat but it does present some evidence for an argument when you look at Kukta’s +/- of 22.3 and Sabeckas’ 17.3 (itself bouyed by a 36 vs Cameroon while he had a 2 against Canada but 14 versus China).

China fans can be really really excited about this group of talent - again, eight of the 12 players were born in 2010 (apparently the 2011 generation is just as if not even stronger). China star Zhang Yizhaojie was seen limping off the court after the game and he did not play the fourth quarter. It was unclear even after reviewing the game video where the injury may have occurred.

Big man Zhao Boxin looks like their top player long term. The long slender big man is averaging 7.3pt 7.7rb but has been a real force around the paint with 16 blocks in three games 5.3bpg. That would be a new blocks average record in the FIBA U17 World Cup. Egypt’s Ahmed Khalaf averaged 4.9bpg in 2014 and 4.4bpg in 2016 while Qi Zhou of China and Egyptian Moataz Hosny both had 4.0bpg in 2012.

And Lithuania kept China’s sniper Zhang Yuchen in check with just 1 of 7 from long range after he had made 10 of 20 in the first two games. Zhang is nicknamed “Huizhou Curry” - Huizhou being his home city in Guangdong. At age 10, a video of him hitting 17 three-pointers in 1 minute and 30 seconds went viral online.

We had a chance for the first-ever meeting of New Zealand and Australia at a FIBA Youth World Cup, but New Zealand ended up beating Slovenia for their first victory. As a reward, they will take on Serbia in the Round of 16.

New Zealand had lost leads of 25 and 13 in dropping their first two games but they never trailed against Slovenia, leading by as many as 14 points. Things got close at the end but Slovenia just don’t have the firepower as they are missing their starting backcourt from last summer of Bine Pregl and Martin Trsad. On top of that, Lun Jarc did not play this game.

Tawhiri Cate for a third straight game wasn’t far from a triple-double with 18pt 7rb 9as while Liam Keogh had 20pt 8rb and Jayden Cecil added 14pt 4rb 3as.

Observers will see New Zealand with a 1-2 record with only a victory over a shorthanded Slovenia and might wonder about how good they are. The Kiwis are a pretty solid unit but they will be hard pressed to knock off Serbia - though sign me up for the showdown of Serbian Nikola Kusturica and Jayden Cecil.

Côte d’Ivoire have been a pleasant surprise thus far in Istanbul - beating Venezuela in their first ever FIBA U17 World Cup game and then giving Australia all they could handle.

The FIBA U16 AfroBasket 2025 champions hung around with Serbia for one half - trailing 47-39 after 20 minutes - but then couldn’t keep it up in the second half, which Serbia took 50-32 for a 26-point win.

Serbian star Nikola Kusturica is All-Star Five bound with another star performance of 17pt 11rb 4as 3st 3bl. Matija Lukic looks like an excellent talent as well with 16pt including 4 three-pointers while Ognjen Simjanovski did a good job against the Ivorian pressure with 9pt 5rb 8as 2to in 27min.

Serbia’s defense meanwhile did well eliminating the Africans’ two main offensive options. JP Oka and Barakel Koffi combined for 14pt on 5 of 23 shots, which opened things for Nathan Djako to score 27pt while big man Raphael Ouedraogo collected 10pt 5rb as he continued his strong event.

France were not expected to get much resistance from Japan and that was the case as the Europeans rolled to a 93-57 victory. France once again observed their players’ minutes - especially of their stars Nathan Soliman (9pt 3rb 3st 17min), Yessi Mangala (12pt 9rb 2as 1st 20min) and Aaron Towo-Nansi (2pt 7as 1st 18min). Dan Boudine led the way with 18pt and Melvyn Vounang had 10pt 8rb.

Only five Japanese players scored in the game with Chusonjakku “Jack” Shiratani doing most of the work. He drained 7 three-pointers (one off the single game record) in scoring 33pt to go with 7rb 2a. His 33 points were just two off the all-time Japanese record in FIBA U17 World Cup history. Rui Hachimura scored 35 points vs Italy in 2014.

Australia were out to show that their challenge against Côte d’Ivoire was only a fluke and showed their strength straight away against Venezuela. The Crocs took the first quarter 17-5 and never looked back for a 28-point win 75-47.

Antonio Browne continued his superb tournament and led the way with 17pt as the only Australian in double figures. The Australians have had Josh Giddey in Istanbul watching them with the NBA star saying he was really impressed with the game of Luke Paul. And the Crocs star just let this game come to him with 6pt on 6 shots while adding 5rb 7as 2st 2bl in 20min.

Venezuela for their part haven’t looked bad in their first appearance in the cadet global championship - though they are 0-3. They challenged Côte d’Ivoire in their opener and then were rolled by Serbia and only lost the second half of this one 38-31.

The South Americans have to be playing with heavy hearts after the devastating earthquakes back home. And they are playing solidly. The main thing is a lack of size. Kevin Gutierrez has impressed with his all-around game while Julio Vasquez could not get going at all in this one - 7pt on 3 of 15fg - and Venezuela fans have to be excited about 15-year-old Chris Echezuria, who had 9pt.

Cameroon’s venture at the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2026 saw another blowout with Canada brushing away the first-timers 104-64. The Africans lost their three games by 18, 51 and 50 points - oh, and next up in the Round of 16 is USA.

Cameroon scored only 8 points in the third quarter and then lost the fourth quarter 30-17 as Canada just were way way too deep and talented. Liam Mitakaro scored 23pt while Isaiah Clarke continued his strong tournament with 13pt 9rb 4st. Isaiah Hamilton struggled a bit with 12pt on 3 of 10 shots and 4to.

One note at this point … I have not really been able to watch much of Cameroon. As the FIBA writer, sometimes I miss entire halves of games that are going on in front of me while I write articles. Or there is a surprise (or a better game) at the other gym. And that seems to have been the case for Cameroon the whole time. So I really haven’t gotten a good grasp on what Cameroon has to offer.

Okay, that is the final day of group games. We now have the knockout stage. There should be some fun games for sure. Enjoy and talk to you tomorrow.

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