Incoming Wisconsin Badger freshman Jackson Ball’s run playing for New Zealand in the FIBA U18 Asia Cup sadly came to a close today, as he and his squad fell to China, 79-66. Ball finished with a game-high 23 points to go along with five rebounds, five assists and a steal, but sadly, in the end, it wasn’t enough.
New Zealand will still have the chance to compete one more time, taking on Korea on Sunday, Aug. 23, for a chance at a third-place finish in the tournament. The third-place finish may seem a bit underwhelming at face value, given the fact that FIBA’s Asia Cup pool wasn’t as strong as some of the others.
Undefeated on the international stage!
— Wisconsin Basketball (@BadgerMBB) August 20, 2026
Jackson Ball (New Zealand) and Isaac Riddle (Australia) led their countries to undefeated runs in pool play at the U-18 @FIBAAsiaCup!
The duo will open bracket play on Friday in India with the tournament to wrap up on Sunday pic.twitter.com/s9ZSDut3DN
However, each of the top four finishers in the tournament punched their ticket to next summer’s FIBA U19 World Cup, making this loss not the worst thing in the world. One more win would have secured their ticket to playing Australia in the finals — the team in which fellow Badger Isaac Riddle resides — but a third- or fourth-place finish is enough to get the job done.
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Ball thus far has been solid but streaky for New Zealand, carrying the burden of being the team’s go-to guy. His 19.2 points, 3.4 assists and 1.4 steals per game are all good enough to be team highs, while his EFF of 14.4 puts him second on the team, only trailing defensive stalwart Aubrey Chunga.
However, as previously mentioned, consistency has been an issue for Ball as a shooter — specifically outside shooting. The 6-foot-5 guard has actually been relatively lethal as a two-point scorer, shooting 53.5% inside the arc. However, his overall field-goal percentage tanks all the way down to 38.5% when factoring in the 25% from three that he is shooting, attempting nearly 10 per game.
Jackson Ball with the 8-0 run to bring the NZ U18 Men’s deficit back to 13pts at the half!!@BadgerMBB Commit@jacksonball04 pic.twitter.com/T7YV0s2Wa7
— BBALL FILMS NZ (@bballfilmsnz) August 22, 2026
All that said, this past week spent being at the top of the scouting report should prove to be beneficial for Ball when he returns to Madison. He got the chance to be the focal point of the offense, experimenting within his game with no worries, hopefully unlocking parts of himself that can be used in Big Ten play.
It’s been no secret that Wisconsin’s backup guard spot is a bit volatile heading into next season, creating an opportunity for a guy like Ball to swoop in and steal some minutes. Whether he will or not is to be seen, but this week definitely didn’t hurt his case.
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