The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Four former Longhorns set for FIBA Basketball World Cup
08.30.2019 | Men's Basketball
Balbay, Joseph, Papapetrou and Turner will represent four different countries in the 32-team tourney in China.
BEIJING, China — A quartet of former University of Texas Men's Basketball players are scheduled to participate in the upcoming FIBA Basketball World Cup on Aug. 31-Sept. 15 in China. Dogus Balbay (2008-11, Turkey), Cory Joseph (2010-11, Canada), Ioannis Papapetrou (2012-13, Greece) and Myles Turner (2014-15, USA), will compete in the 32-team tournament which will also act as qualification for the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Texas leads all NCAA Division I programs in the number of different countries represented (four) by former players at the FIBA World Cup. Balbay (Turkey) and Turner (USA) will both play in Group E in first-round group action, while Papapetrou (Greece) is in Group F and Joseph (Canada) is in Group H.
Group play runs from Saturday, Aug. 31 through Thursday, Sept. 5. Second-round action is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 6 through Monday, Sept. 9. The quarterfinals will be played on Tuesday, Sept. 10 and Wednesday, Sept. 11. Medal semifinals are set for Friday, Sept. 13, while the gold and bronze medal contests will be held on Sunday, Sept. 15.
Live stream for every game of the 2019 FIBA World Cup will be available via ESPN+.
Balbay spent three seasons at Texas (2008-11) and played in 97 career games (71 starts). He earned a spot on the Big 12 Conference All-Defensive team as a junior in 2009-10 and was the team's Most Outstanding Defensive Player in both his junior and senior years. Balbay has played professionally in Turkey for the past eight seasons.
Joseph played one year at Texas (2010-11) and earned USBWA Freshman All-America second-team honors along with All-Big 12 honorable mention and Big 12 All-Rookie accolades. He was selected as the No. 29 pick by the San Antonio Spurs in the 2011 NBA Draft and is entering his ninth season in the NBA and first with the Sacramento Kings.
Papapetrou spent one season at Texas (2012-13) and played in all 34 games (25 starts). He turned professional following his freshman year and has played professionally in Greece for the past six years.
Turner played one year at Texas (2014-15) and earned Big 12 Conference Freshman of the Year and All-Big 12 Third Team honors. He was selected as the No. 11 pick by the Indiana Pacers in the 2015 NBA Draft and is entering his fifth season with the Pacers.