John Holland ('11), Puerto Rico to Open FIBA World Cup Saturday
August 25, 2023 | Men's Basketball
Sitting at No. 20 in the FIBA World Rankings, Puerto Rico will compete in Group B against No. 6 Serbia, No. 27 China and No. 62 South Sudan. The top two teams from each of the eight groups will advance to the second round, while the bottom two teams will play the Classification Round for places 17-32. All the games will be available for viewing on ESPN+.
Holland finished his collegiate career at BU as just the second in America East history to tally at least 2,000 points, 700 rebounds and 200 steals. A three-time All-AE First Team honoree, he repeated as the league's scoring champion at 19.2 ppg in 2011 while also leading the Terriers in rebounding at 5.8 rpg. That same season, he was named the America East Player of the Year before the start of the conference tournament and followed with his 10th-career double-double (27 pts., 11 rebs.) in the title game for the championship's Most Outstanding Player honor.
In the summer following graduation, he made his first career appearance for Puerto Rico at the "Tuto" Marchand Continental Cup and followed up by competing in the FIBA Americas Championship with a 2012 Olympic berth on the line. In 2013, he averaged 10.8 pts. over four games to help P.R. claim its first-ever Marchand Continental Cup before recording 9.4 ppg during the FIBA Americas Championship to qualify for the 2014 FIBA World Cup.
During 2016, Holland and P.R. came up just one game short of qualifying for the 2016 Olympics but came back in 2019 to reach another FIBA World Cup. Now in 2023, Holland will have the opportunity to participate in his first World Cup.
Outside representing P.R., Holland has had quite the professional career. Named the 2017 NBA D-League Impact Player of the Year and an All-NBA D-League Third Team honoree, Holland made an appearance in the 2016 NBA playoffs with the Boston Celtics and followed up with a combined 25 appearances between 2017-19 with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He later helped Hapoel Jerusalem claim the 2020 Israeli State Cup and most recently Crvena zvezda capture both the 2023 Serbian League championship and the Serbian Cup.
Puerto Rico's FIBA World Cup-Group B Schedule
Saturday, Aug. 26 - vs. South Sudan, 4 a.m. ET
Monday, Aug. 28 - vs. Serbia, 8 a.m. ET
Wednesday, Aug. 30 - vs. China, 8 a.m. ET
