Rasheed Sulaimon Wins Gold at U19 World Championship

By Daniel Carp

Duke guard Rasheed Sulaimon is now a gold medalist in back-to-back summers.

Duke’s Rasheed Sulaimon won the gold medal playing for the United States at the U19 World Championship.

Sulaimon and the United States took the gold medal at the FIBA U19 World Championship in Prague, Czech Republic Sunday afternoon with an 82-68 victory against Serbia. The sophomore scored 12 points in the gold medal game. Sulaimon started eight of the United States’ nine games in the tournament, and was one of the team’s more experienced players and emotional leaders.
Averaging 9.6 points per game and shooting 40.5 percent from beyond the arc, Sulaimon ranked fifth on the team in scoring.

He was also a gold medalist for the U.S. last summer at the U18 World Championship, where he averaged 10.0 points per game.

Sulaimon also played alongside Jahlil Okafor and Justise Winslow, two Class of 2014 recruits who have both received scholarship offers from Duke. Okafor and Winslow came off the bench for the Americans, but were often among the team’s leading scorers. Okafor also earned All-Tournament honors.

This was just the third time in the last 25 years the U.S. has taken gold at the U19 World Championship.

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