Four Utah College Alums Win 3x3 AmeriCup Gold, and Fredette and Plouffe Are the MVPs

Four players with Utah college roots finished the FIBA 3x3 AmeriCup 2026 with gold medals on Sunday, Nov. 1, in San Salvador, El Salvador, and two of them took home the tournament's top individual awards.

BYU great Jimmer Fredette and former Utah forward Riley Battin won the men's title with the United States, beating Canada 21-15 in the final. Two Utah women's basketball alums, Michelle Plouffe and Paige Crozon, won the women's title with Canada, beating the defending champion United States 21-12. FIBA named Fredette the men's MVP and Plouffe the women's MVP.

Who won the 2026 FIBA 3x3 AmeriCup?

The United States won the men's tournament and Canada won the women's tournament. FIBA's medal-day recap called it a historic three-peat for the U.S. men, whose win over Canada was their third straight AmeriCup title and fifth overall. Canada's 21-12 win in the women's final was its third women's AmeriCup gold and, per FIBA, its first since 2024.

The finals were a cross-border pair. Canada's men reached their first AmeriCup men's final before taking silver, and the U.S. women took silver, which USA Basketball counted as the program's second ever at the event. Puerto Rico beat Brazil 19-17 for men's bronze, and Colombia beat Cuba 15-12 for women's bronze, its first AmeriCup medal of any color.

All four Utah-tied players were unbeaten on the final day. The U.S. men went 5-0 for the whole tournament, according to USA Basketball.

How did Jimmer Fredette win the AmeriCup MVP?

He scored when the U.S. needed it most. Fredette had nine points in a 22-7 pool win over the Dominican Republic and six in a 21-12 win over host El Salvador. In the knockout rounds FIBA credited him with eight points, seven rebounds and five highlights in a 21-16 quarterfinal win over Mexico, then five points in a 17-13 semifinal over Brazil, where USA Basketball said his 2-pointer with 3:25 left broke open a defensive stalemate at 10-7.

The final was his best game. The U.S. built a 9-3 lead on 2-pointers from Mitch Hahn, Fredette and Battin, and when Canada closed to within four, Fredette scored the team's last seven points: a three-point play on a 2-pointer from the top of the key, then his fourth and fifth 2-pointers of the game. USA Basketball wrote that the last one, the game winner, banked off the glass. FIBA called his 13 points in the final a tournament high.

FIBA ranked Fredette first in the tournament in player value (59.4), total points (41), highlights (17) and two-pointers made (16), and second in assists with 10. USA Basketball listed his average at 8.2 points per game, and FIBA put him on the men's Team of the Tournament with Canada's Willem Vreeken and Puerto Rico's Bryan Gonzalez. It was his second AmeriCup gold medal.

The award adds to a long list at BYU, where he was the consensus national player of the year in 2011, led the nation at 28.9 points per game that season and left as the program's career scoring leader with 2,599 points. In January 2026 the Deseret News reported that BYU would retire his No. 32 jersey. This was his first 3x3 national team appearance since the Paris 2024 Olympics, where the Deseret News reported that an adductor injury ended his tournament early.

How did former Ute Riley Battin make Team USA?

Through a detour. USA Basketball's profile traces his path from Oak Park High School near Los Angeles to four seasons at the University of Utah, a fifth year at California Baptist and a pro stint in Japan with Shonan United BC. A minor knee surgery brought him home, and while he rehabbed, Team Los Angeles invited him to practice with its 3x3 group. He played the FIBA 3x3 Pro Circuit with Calabasas in 2024 and Los Angeles in 2025, then made his national team debut on the 2026 Champions Cup team that won gold in Bangkok.

"Once I got introduced to 3x3, I could see how my skillset and everything correlated, and it was a no-brainer," Battin said before the tournament.

He was a steady piece of the run. Battin scored six points against El Salvador and five in the semifinal against Brazil, and he hit a 2-pointer during the 9-3 run that opened the final. USA Basketball noted that this was his first AmeriCup gold, earned with the Team Miami group he had played beside all year on the World Tour: Fredette, Hahn and Henry Caruso. "Anytime you put on the USA jersey, the standard's gold, so that's what we're going for out here," Battin said ahead of the event.

Was Michelle Plouffe the women's MVP?

Yes. FIBA named Plouffe the women's MVP after she scored eight points in Canada's 18-10 quarterfinal win over Chile, 11 in its 21-11 semifinal win over Colombia and a Canada-leading nine in the 21-12 final against the United States. She led every player in the tournament in player value (49.8), total points (41), offensive rebounds (12) and one-pointers made (23), and ranked third in blocks. FIBA also put her on the women's Team of the Tournament with Sydney Taylor of the U.S. and Yuliany Paz of Colombia.

It was a title run that almost did not happen. Plouffe announced her retirement from international play in July 2025 and moved into a role as Canada Basketball's 3x3 performance manager. Canada Basketball brought her back for the Women's Series stop in Bangkok in August 2026, her first competition since the 2024 Women's Series Final. About 10 weeks later she was the AmeriCup MVP.

At Utah, Plouffe was a three-time All-Conference pick in both the Mountain West and the Pac-12, and Utah athletics lists her as the program's career rebounding leader with 1,171. The Seattle Storm drafted her in the second round of the WNBA draft. She has played in three Olympics: five-on-five at London 2012 and Rio 2016, then 3x3 at Paris 2024, where Canada finished fourth.

How did Paige Crozon help Canada win gold?

FIBA's recap credited Crozon with delivering the finishing touch on the 21-12 win over the United States. She came to San Salvador ranked No. 8 in the world, per Canada Basketball, after helping Canada win 2026 Women's Series titles in Shanghai and Takasaki.

Crozon, from Humboldt, Saskatchewan, was an All-Pac-12 selection at Utah and a 1,000-point scorer, and she finished her career shooting 83.8% from the free-throw line, third best in program history. She, Plouffe and Plouffe's twin sister Katherine, who was also on this roster, helped build Canada's women's 3x3 program from its early days in 2019, according to Canada Basketball. At Paris 2024 the two Utes played for another one, head coach Kim Gaucher, Utah's career scoring leader.

Medal-day scores for the finalists

Men

• Quarterfinal: USA 21, Mexico 16
• Semifinals: USA 17, Brazil 13; Canada 21, Puerto Rico 18
• Bronze: Puerto Rico 19, Brazil 17
• Final: USA 21, Canada 15

Women

• Quarterfinal: Canada 18, Chile 10; USA 21, Paraguay 18
• Semifinals: Canada 21, Colombia 11; USA 21, Cuba 17
• Bronze: Colombia 15, Cuba 12
• Final: Canada 21, USA 12

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Key facts:

• Event: FIBA 3x3 AmeriCup 2026, Oct. 28 to Nov. 1, San Salvador, El Salvador; medal games Sunday, Nov. 1
• Men's final: USA 21, Canada 15; the U.S. went 5-0 for its third straight AmeriCup title and fifth overall
• Women's final: Canada 21, USA 12; Canada's third women's AmeriCup gold
• Jimmer Fredette (BYU): men's MVP; 13 points in the final, including the game winner; 41 total points, 8.2 per game; Team of the Tournament
• Riley Battin (Utah): gold in his first AmeriCup; six points vs. El Salvador, five in the semifinal vs. Brazil
• Michelle Plouffe (Utah): women's MVP; eight, 11 and nine points in the knockout rounds; led the tournament with 41 points; Team of the Tournament
• Paige Crozon (Utah): gold with Canada; delivered the finishing touch in the final, per FIBA; ranked No. 8 in the world entering the event
• Bronze: Puerto Rico men (19-17 over Brazil), Colombia women (15-12 over Cuba)