CHEMNITZ, Germany - Elijah Clarance and the Swedish U20 National Team fell 72-63 to the Israeli U20 National Team in the first round of the FIBA Playoffs on Wednesday. The team will now face off against Lithuania - the third-ranked U20 team in the world - at 6:30 a.m. CT on Thursday morning.
In the game against Israel, Clarance tied for the team-high with 18 points, as he came into the game tied for the tournament lead in scoring average. He also pulled down eight rebounds and had an assist and a steal. He made 6-of-14 shots from the field, 1-of-4 from long range, and 5-of-7 from the charity stripe.
Over the four games of the FIBA Tournament (including three games in pool play), Clarance averaged 21.0 points per game, leading the country's national team in points, rebounds (6.3 per game), and assists (3.3 per game). for the four games he went 27-of-70 from the field (38.6%), and 72.7 percent (24-of-33) from the charity stripe. He also added five steals and two blocked shots, each tied for the second-most on the team.
In all, Clarance and the Swedish team has played 10 games through the summer, including friendly's. The rising ISU sophomore scored 220 points, averaging 22.0 points per game. He also pulled down 50 rebounds (5.0 per game), while dishing out 27 assists. The 22.0 point per game average is the 10th-best in the country's history for a national team player of any age group, and is tied for the highest U20 scoring average in Sweden's history.
Lithuania, Sweden's next opponent, swept through play in Group A with a 3-0 record; however, fell to Spain earlier today by a 75-70 score in the first round of the tournament. The game will also feature two of the four leading scorers in the FIBA Tournament in Clarance and Lithuania's Gytis Masiulis, who also plays professionally in the National Basketball League in Lithuania. In all, 11 of the 12 Lithuania players on the roster compete professionally in Europe.
Clarance will return to Normal, Illinois, and join a Redbird team that returns 88.6 percent of its scoring from a season ago, which is the 16th-highest returning total in NCAA Division I for the upcoming season.
