Syracuse men’s basketball: Luke Fennell flashes potential at the FIBA U-19 World Cup

The Orange’s Australian freshman lit it up from three in particular.

While most of the 2025-26 Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team is on campus and already practicing, one of its new incomers just wrapped up a promising stretch of performances at this year’s FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup.

Six-foot-six Australian guard Luke Fennell took on a pretty substantial role for Australia as the U19 World Cup went on, particularly in his usage and scoring.

Fennell averaged 10.6 points, 1.6 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 0.7 steals per game in seven games for the Australian squad. Fennell and Australia went 2-1 in the Group Phase (wins over Cameroon and France, loss to USA), beat the Dominican Republic in the Round of 16 and lost to Germany in the Quarterfinals.

The team would play two more games, defeating Israel by six before falling by three to Canada.

Fennell’s U19 World Cup run started off slow, combining for just 22 minutes and 4 points on 2/9 shooting in Australia’s first two games. He then had his first truly productive game, a 13-point performance in 18 minutes versus France. He also shot 4/8 from the field and 2/5 from three.

After another efficient 12-point game versus the Dominican Republic, Fennell’s Quarterfinals performance was arguably his best: 18 points, 6/12 from the field, 4/6 from three, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 1 block in 24 minutes.

Fennell topped over 25 minutes in Australia’s final two matchups versus Israel and Canada, capped off with an 18-point game against Canada, going 6/14 from the floor and 5/10 from three.

Probably the biggest stat that jumps off the stat sheet: Fennell shot over 48% from three, making over two per game and taking 4.7 per contest.

Watching the tape, Fennell loves to dribble into the three, mainly on a step-back or taking a quick dribble off a catch, then popping back behind the arc. He obviously will not shoot over 48% from three with Syracuse. That being said, the early signs show maybe he can be that floor spacer who can provide some scoring punch and shot creation off the bench.

Fennell’s perimeter game will definitely be his calling card, only because the two-point efficiency wasn’t jumping out too much. Excluding all his threes made and attempted, he shot 39.1% on twos (9/23) and only attempted 10 free throws in seven games (1.4 FTA per contest).

It’s also expected that he will likely need time to grow into the pick & roll ball-handler/playmaker type. He had 1.4 APG, compared to 1.3 turnovers per game.

All this in mind, the experience overseas against some decent competition is certainly a step in the right direction, especially performing in the role Fennell ending up in. With Australia, he finished fifth in minutes, third in scoring, fourth in efficiency (first among the team’s five players with the most MPG) and first in three-point percentage.

With the U19 Basketball World Cup wrapped up, Fennell will now head to the 315 and hope to provide an impact for this year’s Orange.