Louisville's Mikel Brown leads Team USA U19 basketball 2025 to gold in FIBA World Cup
Louisville freshman Mikel Brown Jr., Kentucky freshman Jasper Johnson and Tyran Stokes, a 502 native who is the top recruit in the Class of 2026, helped the U.S. notch a bounce-back performance in the tournament after it failed to reach the podium in 2023 — going 7-0 and taking down Germany, 109-76, in Sunday's championship.
Brown, a McDonald's All-American who is projected to be a lottery pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, earned all-tournament honors. The 6-foot-3 point guard led Team USA in scoring (14.9 points on 46.7% shooting) and assists (6.1 against 2.1 turnovers) across roughly 23 minutes per game. He went for 12 points on 4-for-13 shooting with four assists and two rebounds in 24:35 of run against Germany on Sunday.
Incoming BYU freshman AJ Dybantsa was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.
Johnson, a consensus top-25 player in the Class of 2025, averaged eight points on 46.3% shooting (40.1% from 3) with 1.6 assists and 1.3 rebounds across roughly 15 minutes per game. His best performance came in the semifinals, when he scored 14 points on 5-for-11 shooting in 18 minutes. He made multiple 3s in four of the seven games in Switzerland.
Stokes, a 6-foot-7 forward who is being courted by both the Cardinals and the Wildcats, had 10 points and seven rebounds in Sunday's gold-medal game. He became the first American in U19 World Cup history to record a triple-double when he went for 19 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists during a 140-67 win over Jordan in the Round of 16.
This is USA Basketball's ninth gold medal in the FIBA U19 World Cup. It last won in 2021.
Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: USA Basketball U19: Mikel Brown, Jasper Johnson, Tyran Stokes win gold
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