Duke basketball commit wins gold medal at FIBA Americas Championship

It was a productive week in Mexico for Duke basketball commit Jared McCain. 

In his first FIBA competition, Duke basketball commit Jared McCain is coming back to the United States with a gold medal.

McCain and the rest of the U18 USA Basketball squad rolled to six straight victories in the FIBA U18 Americas Championship in Mexico and left no doubt to the rest of the world who the best team was at the tournament.

The United States romped the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and Puerto Rico in the group stage and carried that momentum to runaway victories in the knockout stage against Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil.

Jared McCain started four of the six games for Team USA as the Corona, California native is ranked as the newly minted five-star commit is ranked as the No. 23 player in the Class of 2023, No. 2 shooting guard, and No. 5 player in the state of California, according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings.

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The future Blue Devil started off his tournament with an eight point showing against the Dominican Republic before posting his tournament-high 22 points against Ecuador.

McCain closed out the group stage with a six point performance against Puerto Rico.

Jared McCain led the charge for the United States in its first elimination game against Mexico with 17 points and chipped in nine points in the semifinals against Argentina.

The gold medal game against Brazil was another laugher for the Americans but the Duke commit contributed five points and five rebounds to the winning cause.

Duke basketball commit has clear room for growth in his game

It was impressive to see the potential of Jared McCain against international competition and stand out among the future stars on the United States U18 team, however there is a clear area of weakness in the game of the future Dukie.

McCain shot 8-of-36 (22.2-percent) from 3-point range in the FIBA U18 Americas Championship but did average 11.2 points per game in the event.

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However, the 6-foot-2 guard was 19-of-29 (65.5-percent) from 2-point territory in the tournament.

Jared McCain joined the top ranked recruiting class for Duke in 2023 which is also comprised of five-star small forward Mackenzie Mgbacko, five-star power forward Sean Stewart, and five-star point guard Caleb Foster.