The USA will play its preliminary round games of the 2019 FIBA U19 World Cup for Men against New Zealand, Lithuania and Senegal, FIBA announced on Wednesday at the draw ceremony in Heraklion, Greece.

The competition will take place from June 29-July 7 in Greece. The USA will open play against New Zealand on Saturday, June 29, game two against Lithuania will take place Sunday, June 30, and the USA will cap preliminary play against Senegal on Tuesday, July 2. 

The 16 participating teams were divided into four groups for preliminary, round-robin games. Group B includes Mali, Australia, Canada and Latvia. Group C is comprised of Argentina, Greece, Philippines and Russia; and drawn into Group D were China, Puerto Rico, France and Serbia. 

Following the preliminary round, all teams will advance to the round of 16 on July 3. The winners of the round of 16 will advance to the medal quarterfinals on July 5, and the losers will play out for ninth-16th places. The semifinals will be played on July 6, and the gold and bronze medal games on July 7.

First held in 1979 and known as the FIBA Junior World Championship, the U19 World Cup features the world’s top 19-year-old and younger players. FIBA holds U19 World Cups every two years. In the 13 U19 competitions held, USA men’s teams have won six gold medals, three silver medals and one bronze medal, including gold in three of the past five U19 World Cups (2009, 2013 and 2015), and own a 91-14 all-time record at the event.

The USA earned its qualifying spot for the U19 worlds in 2018 by capturing gold at the FIBA Americas U18 Championship with a 6-0 record. 

Training camp to select the 12-member 2019 USA Basketball Men’s U19 World Cup Team will be held June 15-23 at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The 12-member roster will be finalized prior to the team’s departure for the competition in Greece.

Athletes eligible for this team must be 19 years old or younger (born on or after Jan. 1, 2000) and U.S. citizens.

Past USA U19 teams have included standouts such as: Stacey Augmon (1987), Vin Baker (1991), MVP of the 2015 U19 World Cup Jalen Brunson (2015), Vince Carter (1995), Nick Collison (1999), Stephen Curry (2007), Terrance Ferguson (2015), Eric Floyd (1979), Aaron Gordon (MVP of the 2013 U19 World Cup), Tim Hardaway Jr. (2011), Montrezl Harrell (2013), Gordon Hayward (2009), Larry Johnson (1987), Jeremy Lamb (2011), Stephon Marbury (1995), Doug McDermott (2011), Jahlil Okafor (2013), Gary Payton (1987), Sam Perkins (1979), Cameron Reddish (2017), J.J. Redick (2003), Marcus Smart (2013), Klay Thompson (2009), Scott Skiles (1983), Austin Wiley (2017), Deron Williams (2003), Justise Winslow (2013), PJ Washington (2017) and James Worthy (1979).