ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia (June 25, 2025) – The U.S. Men’s 3x3 National Team finished the Pool Play stage of the 2025 3x3 World Cup on an unblemished 4-0 run. The USA team features veteran 3x3 talent in Henry Caruso, Mitch Hahn, James Parrott and returner from the USA’s silver medal team at the 2023 edition, Dylan Travis.
While the men were eager to commence their quest to the program’s second-ever 3x3 World Cup gold medal, the weather in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia had other ideas. A massive rainstorm swept through at the event’s opening, causing the flooding of Sukhbaatar Square and the 3x3 team tented areas that surrounded. A three-hour delay called for the entire court to be deconstructed, dried and reinstalled before the action could resume.
When the weather cleared and the stage was reassembled, Hahn, Caruso, Parrott and Travis finally took the halfcourt to open their 3x3 World Cup stint with a Group B matchup against Japan. All of the eager anticipation turned into fast-paced offensive pushes from both teams from the launch.
Japan’s Ryo Ozawa, the FIBA 3x3 record holder for highest individual scoring game with a 20-point performance in a single contest on his resume, proved to be a problem early for the Americans. He followed his opening 2-pointer by scoring all nine of Japan’s points in the first three minutes. Travis and Parrott guided the USA through that back-and-forth opening stretch, supplying highlight plays like a Parrott wide-open monster dunk and big block the very next possession and Travis with a timely made-2-ball. With the game tied at 11-apiece at the six-minute mark, USA’s defense adjusted to neutralize Ozawa’s threat, holding him scoreless while the red, white and blue gained momentum.
Unselfish ball movement and defensive rebounding for extra possessions allowed the U.S. to stretch out their 13-12 edge to a 19-13 lead, as the Japanese ran out of gas. Back-to-back buckets for Caruso sealed the 21-14 victory for the United States in the quickest game of men’s pool play. Travis led his quartet with 10 points, while Parrott and Caruso finished with five each. As a unit, they tailored their offense to attack the basket and create high-percentage shots, finishing 9-of-11 in 1-point field goal range.
“Defense is our anchor for everything,” Parrott said. “I feel like we’re the best defensive team in the world because we can adjust to a lot of styles of offense.”
In their next contest against home team Mongolia, it was time for Hahn to step up as the leader for the Americans. He collected seven points in key moments en route to the USA’s 21-18 win to complete a perfect 2-0 mark for the tournament’s opening day.
About 1,500 fans came out to support Mongolia in the bleachers that surrounded Sukhbaatar Square in Ulaanbaatar. Energized by their rowdy audience, Mongolia took an early 2-0 lead. After Travis’ and-one floater tied the game at 3-3, the teams teetered back-and-forth through nearly four minutes of action — the USA was sloppy with their passing and the Mongolians translated their fresh energy into driving punches in the paint.
A Hahn swish from 2-point territory was a momentum-turning point for the Americans, who earned a 7-6 lead with under six minutes remaining. The 6-foot-8 big man drained a second attempt from long range that fueled the U.S. to extend their 3-point lead to a 16-11 advantage with 3:37 to play. Mongolia stayed relentless, led by Anand Ariunbold, to cut their deficit and tie the game at 18-18 on an Ariunbold’s 2-pointer before an animated home crowd.
Neither team shot well from long-range, a 1-of-10 mark for the Americans and a 2-of-11 effort from the Mongolians. Instead, the two teams played a physical tilt on the interior — and foul trouble and free throw shooting came to be a deciding factor. The Mongolian team committed their seventh foul at the 6:02 mark, meaning the USA was awarded two attempts from the charity stripe there-on when Mongolia committed a defensive foul. Hahn saw driving through the lane and drawing fouls as the USA’s route to victory, converting on three free throws to put the game to rest on a three-point margin.
Latvia, ranked seventh entering the tournament, gave the USA strong contention on day two of Pool Play. The Latvians, led by Nauris Miezis who had 10 points on a perfect shooting mark for the game, showed their prowess early to race out to a 5-1 lead over the Americans. Things were cold offensively for the USA in the first two minutes of play, but after Hahn knocked in consecutive baskets from beyond-the-arc to tie the contest at 5-5, the United States had turned a corner.
The teams went bucket-for-bucket, matching each other’s finishes at the rim and conversions from downtown. Overall, the competing quartets shot well from deep; the USA was 7-of-16, with all four players contributing at least one made-2-pointer, while Latvia put up 5-of-11, pioneered by Miezis. With the Americans down 15-16, the Travis 2-point takeover came to life. The former USA 2024 Olympian found his confidence from downtown and converted three 2-pointers to close out the contest, including the finishing blow with little separation and a defender’s hand in his face. The red, white and blue took the 21-18 win.
In the Americans’ final Pool B game against a 1-2 Montenegro team, it was Travis and the team’s long-range shooting that highlighted the 21-12 win once again. Peter Ivanovic’s seven points on the afternoon kept Montenegro on pace with the USA through the first 3:30 of action. But the United States was too physical and too confident from 2-point land for the Montenegrins to keep up.
With the game tied at 6-apiece, the USA ran out on an 11-4 scoring run to sprout a 17-10 lead with four minutes to play. The stretch included Parrott with a huge block on Ivanovic’s baseline drive; he then fed the ball to Travis beyond-the-arc for the 2-pointer to complete the highlight sequence. Travis made a replica of his late-game performance against Latvia earlier in the day, closing out the contest with back-to-back 2-pointers from the same spot once again. He finished his impressive shooting clinic with a game-high 13 points and was a perfect 4-for-4 from deep.
“We feel good about being 4-0 in the World Cup,” Travis said. “We aren’t looking too far ahead and don’t know who we’ll play but it will be good to have a bye and get some rest before the quarterfinals.”
The USA’s 4-0 run through pool play places the team atop Pool B and earns them an automatic bid to the event’s quarterfinal round on Saturday. The first round of bracket-play will begin on Friday, but the United States is set to return to the halfcourt on June 28 to face the winner of Netherlands versus the No. 3 seed in Pool A.
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