With Syracuse basketball on hand, 5-star Jordan Smith wins gold medal, defensive MVP

Jordan Smith Jr., the Syracuse basketball 2026 priority target, has captured another gold medal with USA Basketball.

The 6-foot-3 Smith, a five-star shooting guard and top-five national prospect from the talent-rich Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, and his teammates recently won the top prize at the 2025 FIBA U19 World Cup in Lausanne, Switzerland.

This past Sunday, the USA beat Germany by a final count of 109-76 in the final game to claim the gold medal, after sporting a perfect 7-0 mark at this event, in which Orange assistant coach Brenden Straughn was in attendance.

Smith unofficially visited the Hill last September, and he's extremely close with Straughn, who was also on hand last July as Smith scored a gold medal with USA Basketball at the 2024 FIBA U17 World Cup in Istanbul, Turkey.

The USA, by the way, has now won nine FIBA U19 World Cups, and at the latest event, it averaged a record 114.6 points per game. That's ridiculous.

During this event, Smith, an All-American at St. Paul VI Catholic High School in Chantilly, Va., who also stars for the 17U squad of the Washington-based Team Takeover in Nike's EYBL league, averaged
8.4 points, 2.7 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 2.0 steals per contest.

He made 54.5 percent from the field, 35.7 percent from 3-point land and 60.0 percent from the free-throw line while being named the best defensive player at the 2025 FIBA U19 World Cup. One write-up stated that Smith "was a freak of athleticism - and he made sure that showed on the defensive end. He anchored the American defense with elite on-ball pressure and quick hands, routinely forcing turnovers and taking on the opposing team's top scorer."

Syracuse basketball assistant Brenden Straughn also checked in on Luke Fennell.

Also competing at this summer's FIBA U19 World Cup was Orange incoming freshman Luke Fennell, a 2025 four-star combo guard from Melbourne, Australia. Fennell and his teammates with the Australian national squad went 4-3 overall, finishing in sixth place.

After a quiet start, Fennell came on strong throughout the event, displaying his prowess from beyond the arc. For the entire event, he averaged 10.6 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists per affair while connecting on 44.6 percent from the field, 48.5 percent from downtown and 80.0 percent from the charity stripe.

In the 2024-25 season, Fennell played for the South East Melbourne Phoenix in the National Basketball League ("NBL"), a professional league with teams in Australia and New Zealand.