The 2024 FIBA 3×3 U23 World Cup begins this Wednesday, Sept. 11 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. A day before leaving for the tournament, the United States’ Azana Baines found the time to talk to Swish Appeal about the tournament and 3×3 basketball in general. Baines just completed her collegiate career this spring, playing her second season for Seton Hall after two seasons at Virginia Tech and a season at Duke.
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She also discussed how, despite growing up in a house full of women, her game was shaped by men, her bond with her twin sister and her first professional season in Spain. Some highlights from the conversation include:
On learning to play basketball with guys:
Being a girl playing with guys, you just have to earn their respect. But you know, once you do get the respect, it kind of just goes on from there. The guys are always picking me up first to play with them and stuff like that. Once they realize how good I actually was and I think that’s helped me a lot just as far as my game and the confidence that I have when I play basketball, because you know, guys, they play with a lot of confidence. They naturally are like, have a lot of pride and stuff like that when it when it comes to sports. So that’s kind of something that I picked up on throughout the years. And I think by the grace of God, He kind of just placed people in my life naturally to just help take me to each level within my career. Starting from middle school, then to high school, then to college, I’ve always had somebody that was there to mentor me and help guide me along the way.
On her experiences playing 3×3 basketball:
I think 3×3 is definitely its own game in itself. It’s so much different than 5×5. And yes, it does remind me a lot of playing street ball, like how I would play outside with the guys, but to be completely honest, I didn’t even know 3×3 was a thing. I got started playing 3×3 because the USA Federation had asked Seaton Hall to bring four players to come play along with some other colleges that they had asked to bring four players and play in a tournament. And so we played in it. I did pretty well. And then they asked me to come back. for an official training camp. And so after that, that’s when I did my first tournament in Chile. I played in Canada and in Hungary last summer. Oh, and Mongolia as well. So this would be my second time playing in Mongolia.
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The schedule for the 2024 FIBA 3×3 U23 World Cup is available here. Baines and Team USA begin play on Sept. 12.
A special thank you to Lorenzo Gallotti of Two Points agency for arranging the interview.
