A trio of basketball players with local ties is bringing home gold medals from a dominant run with Team USA at the FIBA U19 World Cup in Switzerland.
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.
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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.
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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
