Recapping the Junior Tall Blacks at the FIBA U19 World Cup
A little over a year ago, the only basketball team from Aotearoa to ever make the semi-finals of a FIBA World Cup event at any age grade, men or women, were the Tall Blacks of 2002. Now it’s happened twice in twelve months. The first instance was at the 2024 U17 World Cup, the second of course came at this 2025 U19 World Cup – and there were five players who featured at both (including Hayden Jones whose dad Phill was part of the 2002 TBs).
We knew this was a special group coming into the event – there’s a whole written preview over here that digs into exactly why – but to go as far as they did, performing the way that they did, has taken the aura even further. Top four at a World Cup. At an Under-19 World Cup, where the opponents are 1-2 years older than what those five lads from the seventeens faced a year ago, where the supposed advantages that other nations have got in player development should be closer to the surface. But that’s not what we saw from a powerful, athletic, towering kiwi team that physically bossed every team they came up against... except for the United States but that’s always a different story.
To put this into perspective, the team that we lost to in the third-place playoff was Slovenia and their coach was balling his eyes out on the final buzzer. Tears of joy streaming down his face. Slovenia is not a big country, in fact it’s half the size of New Zealand by population, but they’re a strong basketball nation with access to all the networks of European ball. This is the country that produced Luka Doncic, finished fourth at the 2020 Olympics, and won the 2017 EuroBasket tournament. For them to be celebrating a third-placed ranking like that goes to show how crazy it is for Aotearoa to have been on that stage too. We didn’t lose by much. That game could easily have gone the other way with a bit more luck. It didn’t, and that’s disappointing, but in a funny way that disappointment marks an achievement too. Making the semis and getting to feel disappointed at not doing better? Unprecedented.
By doing what they’ve done, the twelve players in this squad have highlighted their names as major prospects moving forward. This is only the beginning of their journeys, most haven’t even started their USA university careers yet. There are several dudes from this squad with the potential to give the NBA a nudge somewhere down the line (though let’s not get speculative) and with half of them already having represented the Tall Blacks we can safely assume we’ll see plenty more of these fellas in national team squads for years to come.
Just don’t go thinking that this was some fluke alignment of freaky talent. There were some bloody good players who didn’t make the squad. There are some bloody good players who’ll emerge over the next cycle leading into the 2027 edition (as well as Jackson Ball who’ll still eligible for another U19s run in two years). This effort was born out of a blossoming time for basketball in New Zealand, stemming from fine work being done as above and so below.
As we speak, there are three New Zealanders involved in NBA Summer League for the first time ever. Carlin Davison just had his international player rights drafted by the Rip City Remix in the NBA’s G-League. Steven Adams is playing for an NBA title contender. The Aussie NBL is stacked with kiwi talent (including the reigning Defensive Player of the Year). The NZ NBL and Tauihi keep growing. The NCAA scene has all sorts of record-breaking New Zealanders involved. Charlisse Leger-Walker will soon be back on track to get drafted into the WNBA. There are NZ pros scattered all around the globe... and not just players, with Zico Coronel recently coaching Utsunomiya Brex to the Japanese championship. Everywhere you look, things are happening that have never happened before. The cart is not leading the horse. This U19s success is simply a reflection of everything else.
The Tournament
Gotta say that the draw was pretty kind for the New Zealanders. Argentina, Mali, and Serbia works out a lot better than, for example, the group that Australia got with USA, France, and Cameroon. But you won’t get far predicting age grade performances based on the quality of the senior squads, just gotta do the whole one game at a time thing whoever you’re playing. Nobody qualified for this thing by accident.
The kiwi lads could hardly have started worse against Argentina as they found themselves 13-0 down after a few minutes. Fortunately, the shots started dropping after that and the 77-72 final scoreline ended up flattering Argentina after Tama Isaac (14p/7r/7a) led the initial comeback and then Jackson Ball (17p/5r/3a) took over in the second half. In a sign of things to come, New Zealand out-rebounded their opponents by a double-figure margin, got varied scoring contributions, and defended strong throughout. Argentina scored 31 points in the first quarter and never more than 15 in any of the other frames.
That winning story continued against Mali where this time it was New Zealand who zipped out to a big early lead with Mali not even converting a field goal until almost six minutes into the contest. The Junior Tall Blacks dominated on the boards and never trailed on the way to a 73-50 victory. Hayden Jones scored 19 points with 8 rebounds. Carter Hopoi had 11p/4r. Tama Isaac added 9p/8r/4a. Mali only scored 12 second half points against some suffocating kiwi defence. They did randomly bury 29 points in the second quarter though. Mali’s scoring by quarter: 9 points, 29 points, 5 points, 7 points.
After starting 2-0, it didn’t even matter what happened against Serbia. The Aotearoa team could lose and still finish first... which is exactly what they did. For most of this game, it felt like they were on track to make it three outta three, leading by as many as 14 points during the third quarter and spending more than 75% of the game in the ascendency. But it’s only the final score that matters and Serbia all of a sudden turned into a team of terminators when it mattered most, putting up 38 points in the final ten minutes on the way to a six-point lead. Up until the 4Q, Serbia had shot 1/12 from three-point range... then suddenly they knocked down 6/9 the rest of the way. This time the One Bad Quarter caught the NZers out.
Foul trouble was also a pesky factor in the 103-97 defeat. Not only the way it disrupted the flow and spoiled the rotations but also the way that the JTBs only shot 23/36 from the line, missing 13 FTs in a six-point loss. Jackson Ball top scored with 19 points. Tama Isaac also added 18 points with 8 assists. Troy Plumtree had a great game off the bench, serving up 17 points and 7 rebounds including some rhinoceros-powered drives to the rim. Plumtree did all that in less than 18 mins of action. Similar deal for Lachlan Crate who scored 15 points in 19 mins, shooting 5/7 from the field.
Oh well, shrug it off, they still finished top of the group and that set up a round of sixteen meeting with China. Lots of very tall bigs and very fast guards for that Chinese team... but after a slow start trying to figure out the dynamic, New Zealand soon got the hang of things for a 99-86 win. There were spells where fouls and turnovers again threatened to keep them down in what was a much closer contest than the scoreline suggests. It was a one-point ball game late in the fourth with China missing two attempts to take the lead... before Jackson Ball hit a three with 2:01 remaining followed by an and-one from Tama Isaac and a big dunk from Carter Hopoi and next thing NZ had closed on a 12-0 run.
Tama Isaac struggled to score inside throughout the game, often charging into traffic against the stretchy Chinese paint protectors... but he was brilliant in other ways knocking down three triples and dishing up eight assists. He top scored with 18 points though that only made him one of six kiwis to score in double digits in this game. Hayden Jones (16), Carter Hopoi (13), Jackson Ball (12), Lachlan Crate (12), and Julius Halaifonua (10) also got amongst that party.
That win took the NZ U19s further than they’d ever been at this event before... and set up a quarter-final against hosts Switzerland (fresh of a 15-point comeback to beat France in overtime). This one took some guts. The Swiss were up for most of the first half, getting as far as 10 points clear, before a 29-12 third quarter turned it all upside down.
Even though NZ couldn’t seem to make a three and only hit 50% of their free throws, the power of Halaifonua (17p/8r) and the craftiness of Jones (23p/9r/5a/4b) got the job done at both ends. Oscar Goodman also delivered 13 points and 13 rebounds in his best showing of the tournament. As with all of their wins at this U19 World Cup, they rebounded like champs with a whopping 22 offensive boards along the way. When you shoot 3/21 as a team from threes but also grab 22 bonus possessions off the glass, the ledger says you’re in the profits. 84-70 was the final score.
There’s very little to say about the thrashing that followed at the hands of the USA. We also had to face the Americans in the semis of the U17 World Cup last year and that became an 80-point hiding. This time wasn’t quite that bad but despite some good words from Hayden Jones prior to the game about how the kiwis wouldn’t be intimidated and how they believed they could go all the way... it looked a lot like they were intimidated and didn’t really believe they could beat the Americans. USA built up a steady lead thanks to a diet of smothering defence, wicked shooting, and a level of depth and athleticism that made New Zealand’s usual strengths with those attributes into weaknesses. Shooting 5/30 from threes and 9/16 from free throws didn’t help much either.
The exception was a very good third quarter in which NZ was only outscored by two points. That was led largely by the post presence of Julius Halaifonua who grew beautifully into this tournament after some initial rust. 15 points for him in this game. All twelve players got at least six minutes out there and nobody went past 28 mins. Good rotation near the end of a busy fortnight. USA took it even further by giving the whole roster somewhere between 12-23 minutes. It was a bollicking, no need to dwell on it.
Finally it was New Zealand against Slovenia for the bronze medals. Slovenia had been valiant in defeat against Germany during their semi (USA thrashed Germany in the final to win the title) and a tough match-up was made worse when Oscar Goodman rolled his ankle coming down after making an early lay-up. One starter down for NZ after only three and a half minutes.
At times Slovenia threatened to run away with it, shooting an insane 50% from deep whereas the kiwis could barely get a shot up from outside unless it was Tama Isaac doing the shooting. And while they kept the turnover count as low as in any game all tourney, the offensive rebounds also shrunk. The main thing that kept Aotearoa afloat was, surprisingly, some very good free throw shooting. That and Julius Halaifonua, as the big man battled through foul trouble with a superb performance for 16 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists in 23 mins. New Zealand was +11 with him on the court, helping spark a mini-comeback late in the third and early in the fourth.
Slovenia’s consistent outside threat kept throwing stomach-punch counters but New Zealand still managed to make a game of it in the closing minutes thanks to some key shots and stops. The dedication to the cause couldn’t be questioned. But it’s hard to win a game when you shoot 4/18 from threes (22%) and the other guys shoot 11/22 (50%).
Slovenia got to celebrate at the whistle after a 91-87 final score. Fair play, this was a huge achievement for them too. Gotta wonder what might have happened if Goodman didn’t get hurt though, or if the three-point disparity had been just a tad more generous. Anyway, Hayden Jones scored 21 points with 7 rebounds while Tama Isaac added 20 points with 3 assists including 3/6 from deep (the rest of the team was 1/12). Those two were awesome... in fact, NZ was outscored by 13 points in the five mins that Isaac spent on the bench. This was a winnable game but they needed a little more luck and they just didn’t get it.
Stats & Reaction
You can get an idea from the numbers how that rotation worked. Matt Lacey used the same starting five in every game: Tama Isaac at point guard, Jackson Ball shooting guard, Hayden Jones at small forward, Oscar Goodman the power forward, and Julius Halaifonua as centre. But Goodman and Halaifonua often struggled with foul trouble so guys like Carter Hopoi and Lachlan Crate benefitted a lot from that, stepping in and defending tough. Troy Plumtree rounded out an eight-man main rotation with Xanda Marsters (guard) and Will Blight (centre) also getting opportunities in each game. Kahu Treacher and Josh Wyllie had a couple of DNPs along the way.
No matter what combination was out there, you could always trust they’d be playing hard and with the right attitude. That’s credit to the players and also the coaching. This was a truly cohesive and selfless group. They were also a really well-balanced... just look at those stat columns and try and spot any outliers. It’s only Tama Isaac’s assists and Julius Halaifonua’s fouls that stand out. Having six blokes score double figures in the win against China tells plenty more of that story, as does the fact that it wasn’t until Hayden Jones scored 23 against Switzerland in the fifth game that a kiwi finally exceeded 20 points.
As such, almost everyone had their shining moments along the way. Especially the eight guys in the main rotation. Tama Isaac and Hayden Jones had the most of them though. Isaac’s classy point guard mahi and Jones’ versatile wing stuff were what New Zealand tended to lean on when it mattered. Good enough for Isaac to sneak into the All-Tournament Second Five... and Jones was pretty unlucky to miss out. Those two were probably also the only genuine three-level scorers in the team, capable of converting at the rim, from the mid-range, and outside. Particularly Jones, whose pull-up jumpers bailed the team out of a few late shot-clock jams along the way. Jones was also the bloke who picked up the slack as the main ball-handler when Isaac had some foul trouble against Switzerland.
It was interesting to see the two most hyped prospects in this squad, Oscar Goodman and Julius Halaifonua, both suffering from rustiness in the early games. They’re the only two guys in this team who haven’t played any NBL this year since they both went over to USA universities early, where they’ve hardly featured so far. Goodman redshirted his first year at Michigan while Halaifonua only played six times for Georgetown due to injury. In other words, both were short on match fitness. Both also improved heaps once they were able to shake off those cobwebs, although Goodman never quite got to show his best stuff. Halaifonua did though. His Georgetown coach was in Switzerland to watch him and even with the gentle refereeing discrepancies keeping him in constant foul trouble (he fouled out against Serbia, China, and Switzerland and had four fouls vs USA and Slovenia) it was night and day how he ended versus how he began. His two best games came in the two most important ones: Switzerland and Slovenia. Goodman had his best game against Switzerland too.
Junior Tall Blacks Special Moves Ranked
Jackson Ball’s spinning drives
Hayden Jones with the patient/hesitation dribbles
Julius Halaifonua’s power in the post
Troy Plumtree going rhino-mode charging to the hoop
Carter Hopoi’s bouncy dunks
Something did happen with Jackson Ball along the way. He was never quite lights-out even to begin with but his three-point shooting seriously ran out of steam in the last few games. Almost certainly due to fatigue given how he’s the youngest bloke in the squad and has been playing a big role for Hawke’s Bay all season. He shot 10/35 from deep over the first four games and 2/14 over the last three. His scoring by game went: 17, 6, 19, 12, 3, 12, 0. He also only shot 52% from the free throw line across the tournament. Not to worry because he’s so young he can come back in two years and try again.
The two guys with the best plus/minus marks were both bench players. Carter Hopoi (+15) and Xanda Marsters (+12). Hopoi sustained that over nearly three times as many minutes – he had some hugely influential efforts in there, most notably against China where he was +22 in a 13-point win. Marsters was always ready for a corner three, shooting 5/15 across the seven games – no NZer made more at a better percentage.
NZ’s Tournament Ranks (out of 16 teams)
Points Per Game – 6th (83.0)
Field Goal Percentage – 9th (41.8%)
Three Point Percentage – 15th (25.5%)
Free Throw Percentage – 9th (67.2%)
Rebounds Per Game – 5th (45.7)
Blocks Per Game – 4th (5.3)
Assists Per Game – 7th (19.4)
Steals Per Game – 14th (6.0)
Turnovers Per Game – 11th (16.7)
Fouls Per Game – 6th= (19.4)
Those last two (turnovers and fouls) are negative stats so the rankings are flipped so that first place is the preferred smaller number and sixteenth the biggest number – as in, NZ had the equal sixth most fouls per game, hence they ranked tenth equal out of sixteen teams.
Some of those stats got spoiled by the USA game. The threes were never up to much but we were leading the whole competition for rebounds midway through. Steals weren’t really a factor because of how the team defended, each trying to stay in front of their man and make things tough rather than gambling on steals. But the blocks actually rose steadily in those latter games. A more prominent Julius Halaifonua had a lot to do with that – he had five against Slovenia - but don’t sleep on Hayden Jones’ contributions either.
Since the tournament finished, Carter Hopoi and Xanda Marsters have already rushed back home to sit on the bench for the Tauranga Whai in an NBL playoff game about 60 hours after the Slovenia game finished. Lucky for them, they didn’t need to play as Mojave King took care of matters for the Whai. Matt Lacey coaches Tauranga but he only acted as assistant for that one after having not been there for the week’s prep. More selfless stuff from each of those guys... and the Whai won so they should get to resume their usual roles in the semis.
It’s also been confirmed lately that Lachlan Crate has committed to Murray State for his NCAA career. That makes it nine of this team confirmed for American colleges and eight of them are going to be at Division 1 schools. Crate was one of the most subtly consistent guys on the roster, playing between 17-24 mins in every game and often having to defend in different positions. He scored at least 7 points in every game (something only Tama Isaac also managed), with those baseline cuts showing off his strength.
One of the ideas that’s been floated around a lot recently is that there are young kiwi athletes who in previous generations would have been pushed into rugby who are now committing to basketball instead. Well, here’s one of your case studies right here in Lachy Crate. Oscar Goodman is another, although at 6’9 he might’ve been a little too tall for ruggers... but Troy Plumtree’s dad is John Plumtree the ex-Hurricanes coach and All Blacks assistant so there you go.
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