Alabama men’s basketball sophomore Kira Lewis and Team USA will open play this weekend in the FIBA 2019 Men’s Basketball U19 World Cup against New Zealand on Saturday at noon CT. Team USA is one of 16 teams competing for the World title, which takes place June 29-July 7 in Greece.

"It’s great that Kira Lewis is playing on the USA U19 Team," Alabama head coach Nate Oats said Thursday. "I think that will give him some great experience. He’s one of the better point guards in the country, so it’s nice to walk in your first year and have a really talented point guard, especially with the way that we play and how fast we play, and he’s one of the better transition point guards in the country. So, he’s good. We’ve got talent to go around him."

During his freshman season, Lewis earned a spot on the 2019 Southeastern Conference All-Freshman Team despite being the youngest active Division I men’s basketball player in the country. The Meridianville, Ala., native led the Tide on the offensive side of the ball, topping the team with 13.5 points, 2.9 assists and 31.6 minutes per contest. He also led UA in free throw percentage (90-of-115, .783), double-figure scoring games (24) and 20-point games (5) for the season.

The teams were divided into four groups for preliminary, round-robin games. The USA was drawn into Group A and will play its first of three games in five days on Saturday afternoon. Following the contest against New Zealand, USA will square off with Lithuania on June 30 (9:45 a.m. CT) before closing group play with Senegal on July 2 (8 a.m.).

Following the preliminary round, all teams will advance to the round of 16 on July 3. The winners of the round of 16 will advance to the medal quarterfinals on July 5, and the losers will play out for ninth-16th places. The semifinals will be played on July 6, and the gold and bronze medal games on July 7.

The USA Men’s U19 World Cup preliminary round games and Round of 16 game will be streamed on its Facebook page and on FIBA’s YouTube page. The quarterfinals, semifinals and finals will all be broadcast on ESPN+.

Contact Charlie Potter by 247Sports' personal messaging or on Twitter (@Charlie_Potter).

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