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Incoming Villanova point guard Jalen Brunson will be returning home to the United States as a member of the 2015 FIBA U19 World Championship team and MVP of the International Tournament.
En route to the personal award, Brunson displayed incredible maturity as an 18-year-old and was the steady rock for the USA's squad. Brunson, along with undecided Class of 2016 recruit Harry Giles, led the US in scoring with 14 points per game. The soon-to-be Wildcat also led the USA in assists at 5.6 per game with an impressive 3.25 Assist/Turnover ratio.
The head coach of the U19 squad was Arizona's Sean Miller, he told Sports Illustrated, "That kid is a Final Four point guard."
Here is how the Stevenson HS alumn performed in Greece.
| Game | Min | FG | 2FG | 3FG | FT | ORebs | DRebs | Rebs | Ast | PF | To | Stl | BLK | +/- | Ef | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iran | 25 |
1/6 |
0/2 0% |
1/4 25% |
6/6 100% |
0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 9 |
| Croatia | 23 | 4/8 50% |
4/5 80% |
0/3 0% |
2/2 100% |
0 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 18 | 19 | 10 |
| Egypt | 20 | 3/6 50% |
1/3 33.3% |
2/3 66.7% |
1/3 33.3% |
0 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 24 | 14 | 9 |
| Argentina | 19 | 3/5 60% |
2/3 66.7% |
1/2 50% |
2/2 100% |
0 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 20 | 17 | 9 |
| Italy | 27 | 7/10 70% |
4/7 57.1% |
3/3 100% |
0/0 0% |
0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 11 | 21 | 17 |
| Greece | 31 | 9/13 69.2% |
7/8 87.5% |
2/5 40% |
10/12 83.3% |
0 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 28 | 30 |
| Croatia | 40 | 5/11 45.5% |
3/6 50% |
2/5 40% |
2/2 100% |
0 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 21 | 14 |
| Totals | 185 | 32/59 54.2% |
21/34 61.8% |
11/25 44% |
23/27 85.2% |
0 | 23 | 23 | 39 | 10 | 12 | 15 | 0 | 99 | 132 | 98 |
| Average | 26.4 | 4.6/8.4 54.2% |
3/4.9 61.8% |
1.6/3.6 44% |
3.3/3.9 85.2% |
0 | 3.3 | 3.3 | 5.6 | 1.4 | 1.7 | 2.1 | 0 | 14.1 | 18.9 | 14 |
His performance was by many College Basketball pundits and prompted many tweets.
Villanova's Jay Wright just did a backflip into his pool at his Fourth of July barbecue. Why? Jalen Brunson.
— Fran Fraschilla (@franfraschilla) July 4, 2015
Jalen Brunson's the kind of guy you win big with as a freshman
— Dan Dakich (@dandakich) July 5, 2015
If @usabasketball wins it because of the leadership of PG Jalen Brunson (@jbcrossover5 ) A pass first, but NOT a pass only PG.
— Paul Biancardi (@PaulBiancardi) July 5, 2015
Great games by Jalen Brunson (14 pts, 7 ast) and Harry Giles (13 pts, 16 rebs) as @usabasketball wins Gold in OT at FIBA U19 Championships!
— Jay Bilas (@JayBilas) July 5, 2015
'He could lead a European club team now. Villanova is getting an exceptional talent.'--USA-Greece play-by-play man on Jalen Brunson
— Josh Newman (@Joshua_Newman) July 4, 2015
Villanova isn't going to be able to keep Jalen Brunson off the floor. Almost thinking Josh Hart gets a lot of time at PF this year
— Brian Snow (@BSnowScout) July 4, 2015
Not a big believer in +/- when it comes to hoops, but on this U-19 team the +/- for Jalen Brunson and way he runs team is quite noticable
— Brian Snow (@BSnowScout) July 4, 2015
Pretty good start: Jalen Brunson to Terrence Ferguson alley-oop for the first basket https://t.co/1sjDtAU2hK
— Ricky O'Donnell (@SBN_Ricky) July 3, 2015
Nova-bound Jalen Brunson is the kind of PG who'll fool people into thinking he's a Sr. as a Frosh. Got that VanVleet old-man game. #FIBAU19
— Luke Winn (@lukewinn) July 1, 2015
@becb_sbn I already have a dart board with Jalen Brunson's face on it in my mom's basement. It's right next to the Scottie Reynolds one.
— Casual Hoya (@CasualHoya) July 5, 2015
Can we get Brunson in a Wildcat uniform soon enough.