FIBA U19 World Championships: USA advances to final vs. Croatia

Playing for the gold medal on Sunday

Team USA will have a chance to defend its FIBA U19 gold medal after taking down host country Greece in the semifinals on Saturday by a score of 82-76.

It was by far the closest game Sean Miller and the U.S. squad have played to this point in the tournament, but they move on to face Croatia on Sunday. The Americans have already beaten Croatia 103-81 earlier in the tournament.

Incoming Arizona freshman Allonzo Trier did not look particularly sharp in this one, a day after sitting out the Italy game. Trier didn't look great on defense, and was even called for a technical foul for flopping.

Sean Miller is sitting there watching Allonzo Trier try to defend in transition and going "Oh god, what did I get myself into next year"

— Sam Vecenie (@Sam_Vecenie) July 4, 2015

(I actually really like Allonzo. Think he can really ball. Born to score the basketball. But he has work to do on defense)

— Sam Vecenie (@Sam_Vecenie) July 4, 2015

A couple of guys on both sides looked really good. Oregon's Tyler Dorsey, who plays for Greece, was certainly the reason that the Greeks were able to keep the game close the entire way. And big man Georgios Papagiannis, who will come to the U.S. to play college, was also very impressive.

On the U.S. side, Harry Giles looked like the best guy on the floor almost the entire game. Josh Jackson and Jayson Tatum were also very impressive, including Tatum doing this:

The USA/Croatia gold medal game will be aired on ESPNU at 10:30 AM PT Sunday. Hopefully Trier looks a little better, and Sean Miller can bring home that U19 championship.

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