The first round of qualifying for the 2027 FIBA World Cup wrapped up this week, and ten current and former Zags have suited up for their countries since it began back in November.
The 2027 FIBA World Cup qualifying process works in two rounds, each made up of three two-game windows spread across several months. The First Round — which just wrapped up — had 80 countries divided into groups of four, playing each other home-and-away over November 2025, February 2026, and July 2026. Records carried over between windows, but rosters didn’t; countries named a fresh twelve-man squad each time. The top three teams from each group advanced. The Second Round starts August 27, runs through February 2027 on the same format, and the teams that come out on top qualify for the tournament itself, which tips off in Doha, Qatar in August 2027.
Here’s how each Zag has fared now that the qualifying round has wrapped.
Kyle Wiltjer — Canada
Wiltjer has played in every game Canada has played. All six, across all three windows, which no other Canadian can say. The dude is absolutely balling. Wiltjer is averaging 14.7 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists in 21.1 minutes, shooting 50.7% from the field, 35.7% from three, and 90.9% from the line.
He was the whole offense in the fall. Twenty-two points on 8-of-15 in Nassau in November, plus six rebounds and three assists. He notched 18 points in the following matchup, then 16 more in the one after that.
Then July came, and so did everyone else. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Nembhard Brothers, RJ Barrett, Dillon Brooks, Lu Dort, Bennedict Mathurin, and Kyshawn George. Wiltjer played 11 minutes against Puerto Rico and scored four. He played 15 against Jamaica and scored 13 on 6-of-8 shooting
He turned 33 in October and Canada carries a 6-0 record into the second round. Wiltjer is the only man on the team who was there for all of it.
Ryan Nembhard — Canada
Ryan Nembhard just wrapped his rookie season in Dallas on a two-way contract before playing his way onto a standard deal, including a game in April where he dished 23 assists — a Mavericks franchise record. He is the kind of player who doesn’t need much room to make something out of nothing.
July 3 was his senior national team debut. He played 11 minutes, scored four, had two assists and two steals. Three days later against Jamaica, 18 minutes: three points, three rebounds, five assists. The backcourt in front of him had his brother Andrew, SGA and Nickeil Alexander-Walker. There was no role available except to be a ball-mover with good court vision and spacing, and he did exactly that. It was the first time the two brothers had played competitive basketball together in more than a decade. Ryan’s the one who needed it more to bolster his career bona fides, and he held up fine.
Andrew Nembhard — Canada
Andrew Nembhard spent last spring running pick-and-roll with Tyrese Haliburton in the Eastern Conference Finals. He’s in his fourth NBA season, and has spent that time making the case for being named among the most efficient and trustworthy point guards in the NBA on both sides of the ball. The questions about whether a 6-foot-1 guard without elite athleticism could hold an NBA role have been answered, repeatedly, in playoff minutes against good defenses.
Canada has known exactly this for longer than most. He was on the Olympic roster in Paris, has been in the national team program for years, and arrived in Hamilton, Ontario in July as one of the most important pieces Coach Gordon Herbert has acquired.
He put up 23 points, five rebounds, four assists and a steal against Puerto Rico on July 3, then 17 and four and four against Jamaica three days later. SGA was in the building for both games. Nembhard led Canada in scoring in the first one anyway.
Kelly Olynyk — Canada
Kelly Olynyk played four seasons at Gonzaga from 2009 to 2013, made consensus First Team All-American as a senior, and went 13th overall to Dallas in the 2013 draft before being traded to Boston on draft night. He has spent thirteen years in the NBA since, won a bronze medal with Canada at the 2023 World Cup, was named team captain for the 2024 Paris Olympics, and this spring he went to the NBA Finals with the San Antonio Spurs before his team lost to the Knicks in five.
Canada named him to their summer athlete pool ahead of the July window. He was in the building in Hamilton for both of Canada’s games and watched from the stands but did not see the floor in either matchup.
Mario Saint-Supéry — Spain
Mario Saint-Supéry arrived at Gonzaga last season having already played professional basketball in Spain’s ACB league. He averaged 8.6 points and 3.8 assists as a freshman for Gonzaga while shooting 40.3% from three. It took about a month for “El Principito” to adjust to the college game, but once he did he spent the second half of the year looking like the best point guard in the WCC. He is back in Spain for the summer, back on the national team, and back to looking like a professional.
Spain entered the July window 4-0 and already through to the second round. They flattneed Denmark on July 2 in Madrid with a 109-81 win. Saint-Supéry finished that one with 16 points on 6-of-10 from the field, 3-of-4 from three, three assists, two steals in 18 minutes. He was the best player on the floor. Spain then traveled to Tbilisi and shockingly lost to the Georgian team 91-89, a result that affects their seeding but not their presence heading into the second round.
His name has been showing up on 2027 NBA draft boards and his play in the qualifying rounds is a big reason why. The backcourt Gonzaga is building around him this fall (Isiah Harwell, Davis Fogle, Nathan De Sousa, and Skylar Wicks off the bench) is arguably deeper than anything he had last year. The Denmark game is a preview of what that looks like when Mario has a little more room to operate.
Izan Almansa — Spain
Izan Almansa is 21 years old and has already played G League basketball, gone through the NBA draft process, and spent time with Real Madrid’s senior team in the ACB and EuroLeague. He committed to Gonzaga in May, which makes him technically a freshman though he’d enter the NCAA as one of the most “experienced” freshman in the league.
He started for Spain against Denmark on July 2 and put up 12 points on 4-of-5 from the field, three rebounds, an assist and a steal in 18 minutes. Efficient, physical, exactly what a 6-foot-10 forward with professional experience looks like against international competition at this level. Spain is not asking him to carry the team but Almansa looked comfortable in the role and comfortable alongside Saint-Supéry, which matters because the two of them are not allowed to practice together in Spokane until the NCAA sorts out Almansa’s eligibility waiver.
That’s the wrinkle. Almansa cannot work with his future teammates until the waiver clears, which means Spain’s qualifying window is the only floor where he and Saint-Supéry have been able to share a court. They went 5-1 together this summer. Gonzaga fans will spend the summer waiting to see if and how that translates in the new look Pac-12.
Oumar Ballo — Mali
Oumar Ballo spent the 2020-21 season at Gonzaga, averaged 2.5 points and 1.5 rebounds in limited minutes as a freshman, and transferred to Arizona to play for Tommy Lloyd, who had recruited him to Spokane before taking the Wildcats job. He averaged 13.9 points and 8.6 rebounds as a junior with Arizona, earned First Team All-Pac-12, then transferred again to Indiana, and is now playing professionally for Cantù in Italy’s Serie A. He is 23 years old. It has been a busy few years for “Baby Shaq.”
This summer he is playing for Mali in the African qualifiers, and he is playing like the best big man in the field. He averaged 20.0 points and 9.7 rebounds in the July window, second in rebounding across the entire African qualifiers. He came off the bench against reigning AfroBasket champion Angola to put up 17 points and 7 rebounds in the team’s loss to Angola. Mali went 2-1 in the July window and Ballo is expected to play a big role in what comes next.
Angel Nuñez — Dominican Republic
Angel Nuñez played two seasons at Gonzaga after transferring from Louisville. He averaged 2.7 points in limited minutes in Spokane before transferring to South Florida for his final year of eligibility. He remains one of the most enticing what if? stories in Gonzaga history for his athleticism, IQ, and rebounding ability, but has spent the last decade bouncing around European leagues. He’s played in Poland, Cyprus, and most recently Wrocław in the Basketball Champions League. He is 34 years old and has been on the Dominican Republic’s national team roster, on and off, for years.
He has played in all six of the Dominican Republic’s qualifying games since November and has averaged six points and 2.3 rebounds a night. He’s been a key rotation piece on a team that has Karl Anthony Towns, Al Horford, Chris Duarte and Jean Montero on it. The DR went 3-1 in the first round and into the second round.
Killian Tillie — France
France called Tillie up for their two opening qualifying games in November — against Belgium and Finland — and he played in both. France won both. When February came around and the EuroLeague calendar freed up Rudy Gobert and the rest of the full national team roster, Tillie wasn’t on the list. He averaged 1.0 blocks per game in the two appearances. That’s what’s on the ledger.
He is 27, leads the ACB in three-point percentage, and has a multi-year deal at Unicaja. France knows where to find him if they need him again.
Ryan Woolridge — USA
Ryan Woolridge played one season at Gonzaga, in 2019-20, and started all 33 games. He averaged 10.1 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.4 steals, shot 43.2% from three, and never played in the NCAA Tournament because the pandemic cancelled it. He has spent the six years since in Greece, Hungary, Germany, and the NBA G League, the kind of career that exists entirely in the space between almost and not quite.
USA Basketball named him to their twelve-man roster for the November window against Nicaragua, the first qualifying games of the cycle. He played 3.5 minutes in the opener and finished with two points, two rebounds and an assist. Team USA won 102-67. He wasn’t on the roster for February or July
Final Thoughts
Gonzaga’s international pipeline has always been one of the most vital pieces to its continued success. This coming year will be no different with a roster full of highly talented players brought up outside the US. That list includes Saint Supery and Almanza, yes, but also incoming ASU transfer Massamba Diop (originally from Senegal) and Nathan De Sousa, who’s been playing with Club Cholet in France for the past few years.
This is one of the more unpredictable rosters the Zags have had going into a season but one thing is certain: we’re going to see a lot of different styles of play from a lot of different corners of the basketball landscape. How that all coheres and performs in the modern college game remains the question to be answered.
