Gangurrus return to the world stage

After winning bronze at the Champions Cup, and then gold at the Asia Cup, the Australian Gangurrus are returning to action at the 3x3 World Cup in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

With newly re-signed Cairns Head Coach Adam Forde at the helm, he’s again enlisted a number of his recruits from his time in the Far North. His lineup consists of Alex Higgins-Titsha, Dillon Stith, Jonah Antonio and Josh Davey.

Stith was named tournament MVP in Singapore at the Asia Cup, and Higgins-Titsha joined the Team of the Tournament in Bangkok at the Champions Cup, and now they will face some of the biggest names in the format.

Drawn in Pool A, the squad will be facing world Number 1, Serbia, as well as Belgium, Germany, and Madagascar.

Whilst yet to meet the three latter teams, they’ll face the Serbians once more after falling to them in overtime 20-19 in the semi-finals of the Champions Cup. 

Serbia continue to dominate the 3x3 competition. While they failed to win gold at the World Cup in 2019, they’ve won six of the eight competitions since its inception and will be looking to win their third in a row utilising a largely identical side to their 2022 and 2023 victories.

Head Coach Adam Forde:

“3x3 is unforgiving if you think you can just ease into games and find your rhythm. But our group is smart and ready, we know we need to come out of the gates firing.”

Entering the competition as the 18^th placed seed, it will be Australia’s third appearance at the World Cup in the men’s division, with their appearance at the last tournament in 2023 also featuring former-Taipans Mitch McCarron and Lucas Walker. They finished 15^th.

Maintaining momentum after their impressive gold medal performance in Singapore will be the key for the Gangurrus, especially as they spend more time on the half court after first making the transition earlier this year.

Adam Forde:

“The Champions Cup was a successful campaign for us, and it gave us insight into how some of the best countries in the world play. Then we had success winning gold at the Asia Cup and those two campaigns have given us a clear game plan for what we need to do to be successful.”

After ending the Asia Cup with 20 highlight plays (key assists, drives, dunks, blocks and buzzer beaters) and ranked second for rebounding, Stith will be looking to continue his tournament MVP form in his first return to the 3x3 format since 2022.

The only man to outrebound the forward at the continental tournament was Higgins-Titsha, who made his own return to the format since 2023 in fine form with a series of 10+ point performances, and reached a high of nine boards in Singapore.

Partnered with sharpshooter Antonio, the side was able to efficiently dispatch a series of their opponents, with six of their 10 games across the two tournaments wrapping up before the final buzzer with the Gangurrus reaching the game-ending 21 point target.

They’ll return to the half court for the first time since March this afternoon when they face Germany at 1:25pm, before facing the first seeded Serbians at 4:30pm. After resting on Wednesday, they’ll then face Belgium (1:00pm) and Madagascar (3:05pm) on Thursday to round out the group stage.

Catch all the action live on Fox Sports Australia and Kayo.