Australia to host Team USA in 2-game 2019 FIBA World Cup tune-up
Team USA is headed Down Under for the first time since the 2000 Summer Olympics.
Daniel Andrews, the Premier of the Australian state of Victoria, announced Saturday the Australian national team - nicknamed the Boomers - will host Team USA for a two-game series on Aug. 22 and 24, 2019. The pair of games, which will be played in Melbourne's Etihad Stadium, will serve as a warmup for the nearing FIBA World Cup, which will get underway in China just days later on Aug. 31.
"With these two games occurring just prior to the 2019 FIBA World Cup in China, our Boomers and the USA will be at full strength and the quality of basketball that Australian sports fans will witness will be extraordinary," Basketball Australia CEO Anthony Moore said.
The Boomers last faced Team USA at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with the Americans holding on for a 98-88 victory in the group stage.
Both nations have already qualified for the second round of World Cup qualifying, which will begin in September.