Nova Zelândia

There is a long and storied history of basketball in New Zealand, here is a brief glimpse.

1986 FIBA World Championship

The Tall Blacks took part in 1986 tourney staged in Spain. Placed in Group D, finishing with a 1–4 record (13th overall), picking up a 77–75 win over Malaysia.

1999 Oceania Championship

Beating Guam 125-43, the Tall Blacks qualified for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

2000 Sydney Olympic Games

Finishing 11th with a 1–6 record, the Tall Blaacks picked up a win against Angola (70–60) in their first ever appearance at the Summer Games. Playing in Group A against the US, Italy, China, Latvija and France.

Sean Marks finished the Tourny with 13 ppg (Points) and 7.3 rpg (Rebounds, 2nd) with a game high 21 points vs. Latvija. Pero Cameron finished the Tourny 2nd in Steals (1.7spg) and also picked up a game high (4) steals vs. Latvija.

2001 Oceania Championship

The Tall Blacks wiped out Australia, in a three-game series 2-1 to qualify for the 2002 FIBA World Championship in Indianapolis, United States.

2002 FIBA World Championship

Held in Indianapolis, The Tall Blacks stormed out of Group D into the 2nd round with a 2-1 record. Beating China and Russia but suffering a loss to the US.

Finding themselves in the 1/4 finals against Puerto Rico, They picked up the win 65-63, before losing the semifinal to Serbia and Montenegro 89-87.

Playing for the Bronze medal against Germany they lost 117-94 ending with a 4-5 record. To date this has been their best finish at a World Cup / World Championships.

Tall Blacks captain Pero Cameron was the only non-NBA player named to the All-Tournament team in Indianapolis.

Phil Jones was listed as 9th best scorer at 19.2 ppg

2004 Athens Olympics

Held in Athens Greece, playing Italy, China, Serbia and Montenegro, Argentina and Spain - The Tall Blacks finished with a 1–5 record defeated the then reigning 2002 FIBA World Championship gold medalists, Serbia and Montenegro, 90–87.

In the play off for 9th position they lost to Australia 98-80 finishing 10th.

Phil Jones (Points) with 21ppg finished 2nd. Mark Dickel (Assists) with 4.5 apg finished 3rd. Dillion Boucher (Steals) with 1.8 spg finished 5th.

2006 FIBA World Championship

Held in Japan, the Tall Blacks were not to repeat their fourth-place finish from 2002. After an 0–3 start, the Tall Blacks rallied into the second round, with two straight wins to close out the group stage. However, they would fall in the round of 16 to the defending Olympic gold medalists Argentina, 79–62. After that disappointment, Tab Baldwin resigned as the head coach of the Tall Blacks, and was replaced by Nenad Vučinić, his longtime assistant coach.

2009 Oceanica Championship

New Zealand once again defeated Australia to Qualify for the 2010 World Championship to be held in Türkiye.

2010 FIBA World Championship

Pitching up in group C (Held in Izmar) playing 5 group games, the TBs made it through to the round of 16 with 3-2 record. Beating Lebanon, Canada and France, but losing to Lietuva and Spain.

In the round of 16, The TBs drew Russia, losing 78-56.

Kirk Penny finished 2nd overall in ppg (24.7).

Their final rank was 12th with a 3-3 record.

2011 Stanković Cup

Competing at the 2011 Boris Stanković Cup in China. They played 3 games against China, Russia, and Angola. After going down to Russia in the first game by just 3 points, the Tall Blacks quickly put that behind them, smashing China in their second game, which led to a good win against a strong Angolan team. Playing Russia in the final who were no match for Tall Blacks star shooting guard Kirk Penney. He scored 30 points, to give the Tall Blacks the win and the gold medal for 2011 edition.

2014 FIBA World Cup

Held in Spain, New Zealand were placed in Group C and finished up with a 2-3 statline in pool play. Recording good wins over Ukraine and Finland, after narrowly losing to Türkiye in their opening match. The Tall Blacks other two loses game against the Dominican Republic and the US.

New Zealand made it through to the final 16, playing against Lietuva, but lost the match 76-71.

New Zealand finished in 15th place overall.

2017 FIBA Asia Cup

Landing in Group C, New Zealand gained top spot and made their way through to the finals round. Overcoming Jordan in the 1/4 final 98-70. However losing to Australia in the semi final 106-79. This placed them in the playoff for Bronze which saw them come up against South Korea.

Sadly for the Tall Blacks this was the end of the line coming up short 71-80 and finishing with a 3-3 record.

Shea Illi was named to the All Star Tournament team as PG.

2019 FIBA World Cup Qualification

Partial Qualifier results:

• 23 Nov 2017 vs Korea at TSB Bank Arena, Wellington. Tall Blacks lost 80-86
• 26 Nov 2017 vs Hong Kong at Southourn Stadium, Hong Kong. Tall Blacks won 133-74
• 23 Feb 2018 vs China at Dongguan Basketball Centre, China. Tall Blacks won 82-73
• 26 Feb 2018 vs Korea at Jamsil Gymnasium, Seoul, South Korea. Tall Blacks won 93-84
• 28 Jun 2018 vs Hong Kong at Energy Events Centre, Rotorua. Tall Blacks won 124-65
• 1 Jul 2018 vs China at Spark Arena, Auckland. Tall Blacks won 67-57
• 13 Sep 2018 vs Syria, Nouhad Nawfal Stadium, Zouk Mikael, Lebanon Tall Blacks won 107-66
• 17 Sep 2018 vs Lebanon, Energy Events Centre, Rotorua. Tall Blacks won 63-60
• 29 Nov 2018 vs Jordan at Horncastle Arena, Christchurch. Tall Blacks won 95-69
• 2 Dec 2018 vs Syria, TSB Bank Arena, Wellington. Tall Blacks won 97-74

2019 FIBA World Cup

In the 2019 version held in China the Tall Blacks played a total of 5 games. Finishing 3rd in Group F with a 1-2 record, landing them in the 17-32 classification round.

Overall The Tall Blacks had notable wins over Japan 11-81, Turkey 102-101 (Class round) and Montenegro 93-83 (group play) to finish on a 3-2 record. The group losses came against Brazil and Greece.

A final ranking of 19th was picked up.

2022 FIBA Asia Cup

Starting in Group D - The Tall Blacks came out with a 3-2 record record, beating India and the Phippines but losing to Lebanon (72-86).

Setting up a playoff tilt against Syria which they won 97-58. After knocking over South Korea in the 1/4 finals (88-78) , the Tall Blacks faced Australia in the Semi finals. A loss 85-76 loss sent them to a 3rd place bronze play off with Jordan.

New Zealand were able to get past Jordan with a 83 - 75 win, picking up there first medal in 2 Attempts at the FIBA Asia Cup.

NZ lead the tourny (Rebounds) 49.6 rpg.

Finishing with a 5-2 record with their world ranking changing from 27th to 24th.

2023 FIBA World Cup Qualification

Post Covid restrictions The Tall Blacks played a game against the Philippines in Auckland on 3 July as part of the third window of the World Cup qualifying series. It was the first time the Tall Blacks played on home court since beating Syria 97–74 in Wellington in 2018.

New Zealand held 2 more games in Feb of 2023 beating Saudi Arabia in Christchurch 110-63 and then 2 days later toppling Lebanon 106-91 in Wellington. This locked in a spot for the 2023 Fiba World Cup.

2023 FIBA World Cup

Drawn in the same group as the USA, Greece and Jordan in Manilla. The Tall blacks made it through to the 17-32 place classification round after 2 losses to USA and Greece and hard fought OT win against Jordan.

New Zealand played a further 2 games against Mexico and Eygpt, Spliting to a 1-1 record to end the Tournment in 22nd Position with a 2-3 record.

2024 Paris Olympics

In finishing 22nd overall and placing higher than five other teams in the Asia / Oceania region, the Tall Blacks will be one of 24 teams heading to the FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournaments in June next year, at a location yet to be confirmed. From this tournament, the top four countries will earn tickets to the 2024 Paris Olympics.

2025 FIBA Asia Cup

New Zealand has been drawn into pool B of the Asia 2025 Cup Qualifiers alongside the Philippines, Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong. They will play each team twice, on a 1 away 1 home schedule.

The windows for these games are Feb 2024, Nov 2024 and Feb 2025.