McClung selected to USA World Cup Qualifying Team

LUBBOCK, Texas — Former Texas Tech guard Mac McClung has been selected to play for the USA Basketball Men’s World Cup Qualifying Team.

McClung, who will be making his USA Basketball debut, recently signed with the Golden State Warriors. A guard from Gate City, Virginia, McClung played for the Red Raiders during the 2020-21 season before turning professional. He played in the G-League last season where he won Rookie of the Year after averaging 21.5 points and 7.5 assists per game. At Tech, McClung led the Red Raiders in scoring at 15.5 points per game for the season and was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year along with securing USBWA and NABC All-District, All-Big 12 Second Team and All-Big 12 Newcomer Team Honors.

USA Basketball announced the 12-man roster on Thursday for the August 2022 USA Basketball Men’s World Cup Qualifying Team. The USA will play two games as part of their fourth qualifying window (six total) leading into the 2023 FIBA World Cup. The team hosts Uruguay Aug. 25 at Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas followed by a matchup against Colombia on Aug. 29.

The 12 athletes slated to compete for the USA have years of professional experience in the NBA, NBA G League and professional international leagues with seven athletes having prior USA Basketball experience.

The team includes McClung Tyler Cavanaugh, Malik Ellison, Michael Frazier II, Langston Galloway, Dewan Hernandez, DaQuan Jeffries, John Jenkins III, Eric Mika, David Stockton, Robert Woodard and McKinley Wright.

Returning from the July 2022 USA Basketball Men’s World Cup Qualifying Team are Frazier, Galloway, Jeffries, Jenkins, Mika and Stockton. The team went 2-0 in road games at Puerto Rico and Cuba to close out the first round of qualifying.

Woodard has prior USA Basketball experience on the junior national team level. He won a gold medal at the 2015 FIBA U16 Americas Championship and participated in several junior national team minicamps.

USA head coach Jim Boylen will serve his fourth-straight head coaching assignment for the USA Basketball World Cup Qualifying Team, having also served in the role in November 2021, February 2022 and July 2022. Joining him on the bench will be assistant coaches Othella Harrington and Ty Ellis, who served as assistant coaches in the previous three world cup qualifying windows.

The U.S. enters the game tied with Brazil at the top of Group F. A total of seven teams from the Americas will advance to the 2023 FIBA World Cup next August in Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines. The fifth window of qualifying is scheduled for November while the sixth and final is set for February 2023. For more information on how teams qualify for the World Cup, click here. The full U.S. World Cup Qualifying schedule is available here.