CLEMSON, S.C. — Clemson University men’s basketball will represent the United States at the World University Games from July 3 to 14, 2019, in Naples, Italy, Clemson officials announced on Wednesday.
“We are beyond excited to represent our country at the World University Games. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our program and for Clemson University,” said head coach Brad Brownell. “Being just the fourth college program to represent the United States in this event, it provides an extremely unique, positive and rewarding experience for everyone involved in our program. We are all thrilled to represent the Stars and Stripes against some of the very best competition that the world has to offer.”
The event is held every two years since the United States began participation in 1965. Men’s basketball is just one of 18 sports the United States will have to compete against 10,000 athletes from up to 170 countries.
The Clemson Tigers were selected by the United States International University Sports Federation (US-IUSF) to represent the United States in the World University Games and is only the fourth NCAA men’s basketball team to do so, joining Northern Iowa (2007), Kansas (2015) and Purdue (2017).
The tournament will be played under current Federal International Basketball Association (FIBA) rules with some of the biggest differences being four, 10-minute quarters and a 24-second shot clock.