Aotearoa at the 2026 Men's & Women's FIBA U17 World Cups
Unprecedented things keep happening within the basketball realms of New Zealand. Steven Adams has been doing what he does for a long time now but Charlisse Leger-Walker cracking the WNBA is something else. Not contend with just getting drafted and signed, CLW is out there starting games for Connecticut Sun and in half a season has already made massive improvements. This after the finest college career we’ve ever seen from a kiwi. CLW wrapped that up by winning a national title with UCLA... just like Oscar Goodman began his college stint by winning one with Michigan. Kiwi champs in the men’s and women’s tournaments. We’ve got massive numbers of professionals in Australasia and beyond. We’ve got record numbers at American universities too, especially in Division 1 programmes. And perhaps the most encouraging thing has been this incredible run of achievements from our age grade teams at Asia Cups and especially at World Cups. Well, guess what? We’ve just had the men’s and women’s FIBA U17 World Cups and you’d better believe the list is now a little got longer.
Junior Tall Blacks at the FIBA Men’s U17 World Cup
The Men’s U17 Basketball World Cup took place in Türkiye where the kiwi lads were attempting to match the fourth-placed finish the previous generation achieved two years ago. Unfortunately, that quest was pretty much over before it had barely begun after two rough defeats to begin the group stage. Game one was against the hosts, Türkiye, where the kiwis led by as many as 25 points (56-31 midway through the 3Q) only to let it slide out of their grasp for a very pesky double-overtime defeat. The hosts actually tied it up with more than four minutes left in the fourth so there was plenty of crunch time action... Türkiye missed a three in the final seconds then got an offensive rebound and the NZ defender fouled him under the rim for the and-one that took it to extra time. Türkiye won 112-100 in 2OT as the kiwis ran out of gas.
If you watch the highlights of that game, it’s a whole lot of Jayden Cecil. Everything at this tournament was a whole lot of Jayden Cecil for the Junior Tall Blacks too... and any bummers about this team not going as deep as the previous generation is offset by the emergence of a genuinely world class kiwi prospect.
Jayden Cecil was raised in Brisbane but from strong kiwi stocks and moved to America a couple years ago to link up with Utah Prep Academy, where his dad Tai Cecil is the president and Tall Blacks legend Mark Dickel is the head coach. Jackson Kiss also attends the school so there’s a heavy Aotearoa influence there. Jayden’s older brother Isaac is another student-athlete there and that led to a very cool instance earlier in the year when the brothers competed against each other with Jayden playing for the NZ U17s in an invitational tournament that included a 90-80 win against Utah Prep. The NZers did a haka before the game and Isaac, on the other side with Utah Prep, stepped up to meet the challenge. Might as well mention that Utah Prep is where AJ Dybantsa went (playing alongside the Cecil bros) prior to his year at BYU. That bloke has since been picked first overall in the NBA Draft by the Washington Wizards. Can’t argue with that for a pathway.
Cecil was also part of the NBL Next Stars team that won the Adidas Eurocamp invitational event in June 2026, featuring alongside Jackson Ball who was the only other New Zealander in that squad. Busy year for him which got even busier as he scored scored 42 points against Türkiye. Didn’t take long to see that this guy is something different. He needed 40 field goal attempts to get those points (17/40 FG, 6/19 3PA) so it wasn’t super efficient but even still those are mad numbers. Liam Keogh also added 20 points while Tawhiri Cate had 14p/11r/9a.
Following that, the NZ U17s were beaten 85-77 by Puerto Rico. Led 19-8 after the first quarter but again had major troubles with turnovers and fourth-quarter defence – outscored 31-14 in the final frame to lose by eight points overall. 22 points for Jayden Cecil (6/12 FG, 3/7 3PT) while Jackson Couper added 14 points in 15 mins (3/3 from deep), Cate again flirted with a triple-double with his 9p/11r/8a, and Marco Sula scored 15 points with 5 assists. Could have won both of those games and instead won neither of them. Sometimes that’s how it goes at this level. The good news is that the group stage was only for classification. Everybody advanced, it’s just that if you finished fourth in your group you’d be stuck with a top seed from one of the other ones in the next round. In New Zealand’s case that meant needing to beat Slovenia in the third game to avoid facing Australia... and they did.
It was a 79-74 victory for NZ in a meeting of the two 0-2 teams in that group. The Junior Tall Blacks shot out to a 10-0 lead in the opening minutes and then it was pretty much even the rest of the way with Slovenia making little runs whenever NZ seemed to be finding some breathing room. Liam Keogh was the star in this win, scoring 20 points on/11 shooting with 8 rebounds, 3 assists, and 4 steals. Aussie-based Keogh was everywhere with his lanky athleticism (very good defender too), scooping in lay-up after lay-up. Point guard Tawhiri Cate of the Canterbury Rams knocked down four triples for 18 points and 9 assists. Big fella Zach Rampton (Nelson Giants) scored 10 points. The main man Jayden Cecil had an average game by his standards but still delivered 14 points and 3 assists.
The reward for that was a meeting with Serbia in the round of sixteen. Same nation that beat NZ by 48 points at the 2022 U17 World Cup... and this one was rough too. Serbia turned up with a team full of rangy, long-armed giants who kept grabbing offensive rebounds, poking away turnovers, disrupting shots at the rim, and generally just messing with the kiwi game plan. They were up 31-16 after the first quarter with only nine points from Jayden Cecil keeping the pulse going for NZ. He and Marco Sula were almost entirely responsible for the scoring in the first half and it wasn’t until Keogh and Rampton settled in and started challenging some shots that the JTBs looked in any way competitive... and Serbia were too far ahead by then for it to matter. It ended in a 121-91 defeat. The JTBs out-rebounded 62 to 39, giving up 74 points in the paint. Couldn’t hang against the long limbs of their opponents... except for Jayden Cecil who scored a hugely impressive 37 points despite the circumstances.
Serbia went all the way to the final where they were beaten 107-81 by the USA (while Australia won 77-69 against Türkiye in the bronze medal game). New Zealand fell into the classification rounds where we met Japan first up and claimed an excellent victory on the back of some more inspired Jayden Cecil three-point shooting. That bloke had 22 points in the first half as the Junior Tall Blacks established a decent lead and then a few of his pals came to the party in the second half on the way to a 104-83 victory. Japan had shooters too but they didn’t have the size or strength of the NZers who won the rebounding battle 63 to 33 (the inverse of how NZ had struggled against the Serbs). The kiwis never trailed from midway through the first quarter onwards. Cecil ended with 31 points (7/16 from threes) with 11 rebounds and 6 assists to lead NZ in all three of those stat lines. Marco Sula (17 pts), Lawson Pryor (13 pts, 4/4 threes), Liam Keogh (14 pts), and Noah Duncan (12 pts) each scored in the double digits too.
Sweet as, that put New Zealand into the bracket for the top half of the bottom half, competing for spots 9-12. China were the next opponents and a bright start, inspired by Cecil of course, had New Zealand leading by 11 points late in the first and by similar fluctuating margins throughout the first half. It was 47-35 at the big break. Aaaaaand then shades of those first two games returned as New Zealand faded in the second half. China tied things up within barely five minutes of third quarter and by the time the final buzzer sounded the score was 92-79 to China. The Junior Tall Blacks were blown out 57-32 in the second half. Despite a +16 advantage on the boards, recurring turnovers and erratic shooting became an insurmountable obstacle. Nevertheless, Jayden Cecil scored 25 points (5/14 from deep, 9/24 overall) while Liam Koegh chipped in with 14 points.
That meant one final game against Ivory Coast to see who’d finish 11th and who’d finish 12th. And... yeah nah, we lost that one too. Squeezed ahead in a close game during the third then had another shocking fourth quarter, outscored 30-17 in the final ten minutes to lose 85-81. Would blame it on tiredness except that they were doing this the whole way through the tournament...
NZ Fourth Quarters at the U17 World Cup
Türkiye: 20-37 (Lost in 2OT)
Puerto Rico: 14-31 (Lost by 8 pts)
Slovenia: 18-22 (Won by 5 pts)
Serbia: 31-28 (Lost by 30 pts)
Japan: 24-16 (Won by 21 pts)
China: 15-31 (Lost by 13 pts)
Ivory Coast: 17-30 (Lost by 4 pts)
Oh well, it’s a youth tournament so it’s not like these guys had a whole season to prepare their clutch plays and hone their combinations. But Jayden Cecil did score 38 points in this game, shooting 8/18 from deep, to finish the tournament as the leading scorer overall. Absolutely incredible run from that guy: 209 points in seven games. His 42 points against Türkiye was the highest individual scoring game of any player at this edition and he had three of the top seven high-scoring games - in fact that 42-pointer was the third-highest individual tally in the history of the tournament, also breaking the record for most threes made at an U17 WC. Didn’t get him an MVP trophy because that, naturally, went to Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje of USA for leading the champs to an eight-straight title at this event. Didn’t even get him in the All Star Five which was entirely made up of players whose teams made the top four. That’s fair enough. But Jayden Cecil’s put himself on the map with his U17 World Cup performances.
He did have relatively modest overall shooting percentages of 42.7% from the field, 38.3% from threes, and 71.1% from the free throw line. But that’s not a problem. Shooting improves with age and experience. This team gave him good rebounders to cover the misses, he’s got a quick release and great balance which allows him to let fly from pretty much anywhere, he’s a multi-level scorer who can also beat a dude off the dribble, and if you watch him play you’ll see he’s far from selfish about it too. Excellent vision and always willing to pass to a guy in a better position. Extremely rare to see this type of prospect coming through the Aotearoa ranks, someone who scores at will with the size and athleticism to match. Maybe not quite as explosive as the best Americans of his age but he’ll hold his own there. Absolutely one to track as he moves towards college and hopefully one day the NBA as well.
Cecil’s eligibility has been a talking point throughout the year due to his Australian upbringing. He was already considered one of Australia’s top prospects before declaring for New Zealand instead. It’s just one of those things where he’s got genuine connections to a few different nations: his dad is Maori/Cook Islands and his mum is Aussie/South African. Lots of options but as he told the FIBA website his family heritage was what tipped it in favour of Aotearoa...
Jayden Cecil: “I have a lot of cultures in there and that is something I tell people: I am not just one culture. It was a long, hard decision that I made with my parents. But to be honest, I just wanted to play for New Zealand, represent who I am. I'm an indigenous man from New Zealand. I'm a Maori guy from New Zealand. So I just wanted to represent where I'm from and my culture as well.”
Yeah, choice. Right on. Naturally, Jayden Cecil’s massive scoring presence overshadowed a lot of his teammates. Might also not have been the ideal balance given how the team struggled in those fourth quarters. But don’t be mistaken into thinking this was a one-man band. Plenty of talent around him, particularly blokes like Liam Keogh, Tawhiri Cate, and Marco Sula whom we’ll also hear plenty of in the coming years.
Junior Tall Ferns at the FIBA Women’s U17 World Cup
Finishing 12/16 teams didn’t quite match the semi-final achievement of the previous Men’s U17s team but that’s okay, we unearthed a possible future NBA player in the process. And anyway after some supreme tournament runs by the mens’ programmes in recent years it was time for the ladies to take over. Shortly after that Men’s U17 stuff wrapped up, the focus shifted to Czechia where the Women’s U17 World Cup began and it didn’t take long before the Junior Tall Ferns were on the board.
It began with a 79-65 win against Egypt. Did the damage in the first half to be leading by 28 points at HT and then managed it from there. The Liam Connelly-coached team restricted Egypt to just 34% shooting from the field and were able to spread the minutes around pretty evenly across the roster with everybody getting at least eight minutes and nobody more than the 26 mins of Emilia Ainley (who was the equal second tallest player at the tournament, standing at 1.96cm). Led by balanced scoring contributions from Charis Broughton (18 points on 6/9 FG), Imani Rasmussen (14 points with 11 rebounds), and Ava Jones (14 points on 5/8 FG). All 12 players got at least one assist.
To be fair, that was an expected result. But one day later they backed it up by beating the higher-ranked Italy by a 68-56 scoreline. Nothing fancy from an offensive perspective, Imani Rasmussen top-scored with 16 points, but they absolutely bossed it with the rebounds: 54-31 overall and 20-8 in offensive boards. The Italians tried to spark a late comeback but NZ just kept on extending their possessions by cleaning up the glass. Fun to see an NZ team with a genuine size advantage thanks to the likes of Imani Rasmussen, Emilia Ainley, and Katie Moors. Chuck in some strong guards with outside shooting capabilities around them... that’s a well-forged team.
They did lose to Canada in their third pool game... but they put in a strong display, leading after the first quarter and continually making runs in the second half to stay in the contest. Couldn’t get enough stops at the other end but Canada were always gonna be favourites there. Final score was 85-76 with Imani Rasmussen (14 points & 7 rebounds) and Emilia Ainley (13 points & 8 rebounds) standing out for the kiwis. Madelin Eliadis and Areta Kahura also chipped in with 9 points each. That meant a second placed finish in the group and a round of sixteen meeting with Colombia.
And in that R16 game vs Colombia... the New Zealanders never trailed, in fact they led for all except the first 15 seconds, winning 60-40 to qualify for the quarter-finals for the first time in this competition. Brilliant stuff. We did only score three points in the entire fourth quarter however the result was locked in long before that. Big disparity in offensive rebounds and points in the paint to make up for the fact we shot 3/30 from three pointers. Shamar Broughton was 2/3 from deep so don’t ask about the rest of them. It didn’t need to be a crazy offensive night with the Colombians restricted to a mere 24 points across the first three quarters combined - NZ scored that many in the first quarter alone and would have still won even if they’d gone scoreless in the entire second half. All 12 players in the squad got at least 13 minutes and nobody played more than 21. Emilia Ainley scored 13 points with 10 rebounds. Sinai Foai scored 10 points. Colombia shot 14/68 from the field (20.6%) and that’s where the game was won. Gotta mention that Colombia did beat hosts Czechia in group play so this wasn’t a complete mismatch on paper.
The quarter-finals stuck New Zealand with a game against Spain and needless to say it didn’t go too flash. We couldn’t get good shots against them, leading to turnovers which then spurred the Spanish offence and yeah that was rough. Charis Broughton did hit a few threes on her way to 10 points & 3 assists but other than Emilia Ainley with another towering effort down low (13pts/10reb) there wasn’t much going on. Decent defence kept it somewhat respectable until the fourth quarter as Spain won 84-55. Having a 25-3 deficit in points from turnovers never helps. Spain then beat Australia 58-51 in the semis before falling 82-73 to the USA in the grand final so we were beaten by a very good team.
What was brilliant was that the Junior Tall Ferns then picked themselves up with two superb performances to beat Japan 77-52 in the first classification game, keeping them to just 20 points in the first half with Japan shooting a pitiful 23% from the field in this game. 64-33 rebounding advantage for the kiwis. Still had heaps of turnovers but this time they limited the collateral damage whilst dominating in the paint (28-12) and with second-chance points (25-8). There were 14 points & 9 assists for Emilia Ainley plus 11 points & 10 rebounds for Imani Rasmussen. Charis Broughton hit 5/8 from deep for 19 points with 6 assists. Ava Jones hit 4/4 threes for 12 points. There were seven different NZers with at least four rebounds. Awesome mahi.
Finally came one last fixture were the Junior Tall Ferns faced China in the playoff for fifth and sixth. We finished fifth. 76-61 final score where same as the Japan game the JTF’s never trailed at any stage. China kept things a lot more balanced but New Zealand were a little better in most areas and it all added up. Emilia Ainley grew beautifully into the tournament and peaked with the final game where she scored 20 points with 17 rebounds. Imani Rasmussen added 13p/8r as the bigs put in heavy work. With NZ leading almost the entire way, everyone got at least ten minutes of action with 11/12 players scoring points. Fifth place at the U17 World Cup. Record finish for the Junior Tall Ferns. And yet another example of NZ basketball thriving in ways we’ve never before witnessed.
New Zealand at Recent FIBA Events
July 2024 - Men’s U17 World Cup – FOURTH (4-3)
July 2024 – Women’s U17 World Cup - 12th (3-4)
July 2025 – Men’s U19 World Cup – FOURTH (4-3)
July 2026 – Men’s U17 World Cup - 12th (2-5)
July 2026 – Women’s U17 World Cup – Fifth (5-2)
In the past three years, we’ve had a top five finish in the Men’s U16, Women’s U16, and Men’s U19 World Cups. We didn’t qualify for the last Women’s U19 World Cup but we can make amends for that in October if we finish in the top four at the U18 Asia Cup as qualifying for the next one. Before that, there’s also the Men’s U18 Asia Cup in August.
If the Men’s U17s were led by one phenomenal individual, the Women’s U17s were much more about everybody chipping in for the team. A more typical NZ rep team, basically. The bigs of Emilia Ainley and Imani Rasmussen in particular carried a lot of weight but then so did the Broughton Twins and the likes of Sienna Maurice and Ava Jones definitely had their moments. Look at how the assists were spread around. Look at the balanced scoring too. There were two games in there where New Zealand were outmatched but aside from that this was a team built upon some serious defence and all that provides a recipe for a top five finish, the best ever by a women’s national team from New Zealand at a World Cup of any age range. The Tall Ferns have only made one World Cup before and only won one game there. New Zealand has never qualified for an U19 Women’s World Cup. And in three previous U17 World Cups the Junior Tall Ferns have finished 12th on each occasion. We’ve seen unprecedented things happening in the men’s youth ranks and bow the women have shown that the talent is equally thrilling on their side too. Right on.
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