Columbia men’s basketball alumnus Maodo Lo ’16CC achieved a gold medal at the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup with Team Germany. The final match saw Germany defeat Serbia with a score of 83-77, and the game took place at the Mall of Asia Arena, in front of 12,022 fans. Germany had an impressive 8-0 record over the past two weeks, securing their first-ever FIBA Basketball World Cup victory.
Maodo Lo played in all eight games and had an average of 6.6 points and 2.5 assists per game. He played for an average of 16.3 minutes and had a shooting percentage of 44.2 percent. In an outstanding performance against Georgia, Lo scored 18 points in the fourth quarter alone, shooting a perfect 6-of-6 from three-point range. He also contributed 20 points in Germany’s first-round win against Australia.
Germany, leaving Manila with their second-ever World Cup medal, had previously finished third in 2002. The team also secured a spot in the Paris 2024 Olympics as the best-ranked team from Europe. Maodo Lo played for Alba Berlin in the highest level of professional basketball in Germany, the Basketball Bundesliga, for three seasons. In his final season with the team, he averaged 9.4 points and 21.7 minutes per game. Later, Lo signed with Olimpia Milano from Lega Basket Serie A in Milan, Italy.
During his time at Columbia, Maodo Lo started a record-breaking 114 games, the most in the program’s history. He also holds the record for the most three-point field goals made (277) and is ranked third in all-time points (1,756). Only his teammate Alex Rosenberg ’16CC has played in more games for Columbia men’s basketball.
The FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 marked the 19th edition of the tournament and was the first to be hosted by three nations: the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia. The event took place from August 25 to September 10.
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