Tori McKinney Joins Team USA for 3x3 U23 World Cup
Tori McKinney’s rise continues: Gophers guard bound for 3x3 U23 World Cup with Team USA
MINNEAPOLIS – Tori McKinney is trading Williams Arena for the half-court cauldron of 3x3 on the world stage.
The Minnesota guard has earned a spot on Team USA for the 2026 FIBA 3x3 U23 World Cup in Wuhan, China, her ticket stamped after a ruthless run through the Americas Conference earlier this summer.
Back in late June and early July, in Ñuñoa, Chile, the United States rolled through the Americas North division during a six-day, multi-stop qualifying event. Stop after stop, the wins piled up, the points followed, and by the end of the week the USA group had banked enough ranking points to claim the conference’s lone qualifying berth.
That dominance now carries them to Wuhan, where the World Cup is set for Sept. 15-19, 2026.
This is not the traditional five-on-five grind McKinney has grown used to in the Big Ten. The 3x3 format is unforgiving: half-court, 12-second shot clock, games racing to 21 points or ending at 10 minutes. There’s nowhere to hide. Possessions blur together, conditioning gets exposed, and every decision is magnified.
It fits a guard who plays on fast-forward.
McKinney arrives on the international scene fresh off a breakout sophomore year that helped drag Minnesota women’s basketball back into national relevance. She was at the heart of the Golden Gophers’ first Sweet Sixteen appearance in more than 20 years, steering an offense that finally found both pace and purpose.
Coaches named her Second Team All-Big Ten. The media put her on the Third Team. Both agreed on one thing: she belonged on the All-Big Ten Defensive Team.
The numbers back it up. McKinney set a Minnesota single-season record with a 2.20 assist-to-turnover ratio, a mark that speaks to her control in chaos — exactly the trait that separates winners in 3x3. She led the Gophers with 12.7 points per game, a jump from 10.6 as a freshman, and closed the regular season like a player in full command of her game.
Over Minnesota’s final 11 regular-season contests, McKinney averaged 15.9 points, dished out 33 assists, and led the team with 24 steals. Those are not empty stats. They’re the profile of a guard who dictates tempo, pressures the ball, and punishes mistakes.
USA Roster
- McKinna Brackens (Arizona State)
- Dani Carnegie (Iowa)
- Katie Fiso (Oregon)
- Tori McKinney (Minnesota)
Four players, one half-court, a sprint of a tournament.
For McKinney, the journey runs from Minnetonka to Minneapolis to Wuhan, with Chile already stamped in the passport. The next step is clear: translate Big Ten poise and playmaking into medals in a format that rewards the bold.
