Mali went winless in group play at the FIBA U19 World Cup but Oumar Ballo was a definite bright spot.
The Arizona Wildcats big man led his team with 16 points, 13 rebounds, four steals and three blocks on 8-of-15 shooting in a 58-54 loss to Turkey. The 7-footer scored exclusively in the paint but did fire two 3-pointers.
Fellow Wildcats Azuolas Tubelis and Bennedict Mathurin were also in action Tuesday.
Tubelis had a game-high 15 points, five rebounds, four assists and three rebounds in Lithuania’s 95-63 win over Japan. He shot 7 for 13, all 2-pointers. That includes this windmill dunk in transition:
Arizona forward Azuolas Tubelis had a game-high 15 points in Lithuania’s win over Japan.
— Ryan Kelapire (@RKelapire) July 6, 2021
That includes this windmill dunk pic.twitter.com/DM59hDzKdg
Mathurin had 13 points and six rebounds on 4-of-14 shooting in an 85-56 win over Senegal. He shot 3 for 9 from the 3-point line. The Canadians improved to 3-0, which includes a win over Lithuania, which went 2-1 in group play.
Now that group play is over, elimination games will begin Wednesday. The schedule has not been finalized yet but you can find it here. Here’s how the three UA players are faring so far:
- Ballo (Mali): 28.8 MPG, 10.0 PPG, 8.7 RPG. 2.7 BPG, 2.3 APG. 1.3 SPG, 41 FG%, 2-5 FT
- Tubelis (Lithuania): 25.3 MPG, 18.3 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 2.3 APG, 2.3 SPG, 1.3 BPG, 54.5 FG%, 2-3 3PT, 5-10 FT
- Mathurin (Canada): 26.2 MPG, 15.7 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 1.3 APG, 43.3 FG%, 41.2 3PT%, 72.7 FT%