Tori McKinney Joins Team USA for FIBA 3x3 U23 World Cup

MINNEAPOLIS – The climb keeps getting steeper for Tori McKinney, and she keeps meeting it with pace.

Fresh off powering Minnesota to its first Sweet Sixteen in more than 20 years, the Golden Gophers guard is now stepping onto the global stage. McKinney has secured a spot with Team USA for the 2026 FIBA 3x3 U23 World Cup in Wuhan, China, after helping the Americans claim the Americas Conference title this summer.

That ticket wasn’t handed to them. It was earned in a grind of a tournament in Ñuñoa, Chile, where the Americas Conference ran from June 27 to July 3. The event stretched across six days and was broken into individual “stops,” a demanding format that rewarded consistency as much as talent.

Team USA owned the Americas North division. Stop after stop, they banked points, separating themselves from the field and locking up the conference’s lone qualifying berth. When the final standings settled, McKinney and her teammates had done enough: Wuhan was next.

The World Cup is set for Sept. 15–19, 2026, and it will ask very different questions of McKinney’s game. The 3x3 discipline is basketball stripped down and sped up. Half-court. Twelve-second shot clock. First to 21 points or whoever leads after 10 frantic minutes. There is nowhere to hide. Every possession is a sprint, every mistake magnified, every decision accelerated.

That suits McKinney.

The Minnetonka, Minn., native has already built a reputation as one of the sharpest and toughest guards in the Big Ten. As a sophomore, she became the engine of Minnesota’s offense, averaging a team-high 12.7 points per game, a jump from 10.6 as a freshman. Her impact only grew as the season wore on. Over the Gophers’ final 11 regular-season games, she surged to 15.9 points per game, dished out 33 assists, and led the team with 24 steals in that stretch.

Coaches and media took notice. McKinney earned Second Team All-Big Ten honors from the coaches, Third Team recognition from the media, and a spot on the All-Big Ten Defensive Team. Her 2.20 assist-to-turnover ratio set a single-season program record, a number that speaks directly to why she’s such a natural fit for 3x3. The format rewards guards who think quickly, value the ball, and create advantages in tight spaces. That’s McKinney’s lane.

She won’t go to China alone. Team USA’s 2026 FIBA 3x3 U23 World Cup roster brings together some of the most dynamic young guards in the college game:

McKinna Brackens (Arizona State)
Dani Carnegie (Iowa)
Katie Fiso (Oregon)
Tori McKinney (Minnesota)

It’s a group built for tempo and toughness, the kind of lineup that can thrive when the game turns chaotic and the clock becomes the enemy.

For McKinney, Wuhan is more than a destination. It’s the next proving ground in a career that keeps accelerating—first the Big Ten, then the NCAA Tournament, now the world stage. The question isn’t whether she’s ready for the pace of 3x3.

It’s how much faster her rise will get once she gets there.