Brazil completes unbelievable comeback for FISU men’s basketball gold

It wasn’t the fact Brazil won the gold medal in men’s basketball at the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU World University Games that was remarkable. It was how they did it.

Going up against the USA on Saturday, 26 July at Grugahalle in Essen, the South Americans entered the fourth quarter facing a 20-point deficit, which extended to a 22-point disadvantage shortly after.  Despite the near-impossible odds, head coach Fernando De Olivera Pereira’s side didn’t quit. Nor, he said, did they look to the scoreboard.

“We knew we were minus 22,” he said. Instead of focusing on the score, the Brazilian bench boss told his players to “Keep believing, keep fighting, keep fighting, keep fighting, and when the game’s over, we know if we won or lost.”

Point guard Adyel Borges said that when his team was down, they looked each other in the eyes and got their comeback energy from each other.

“We’ll fight to the end no matter what happens,” said the 23-year-old social sciences student from Cesumar University, who paced the winners with 25 points.

After outscoring Team USA 35-13 in the fourth frame to tie the affair at 80 all at the end of regulation, Brazil rode its massive momentum to the gold medal, winning 94-88 in overtime. By the start of the extra period, the Brazilians knew the game was theirs.

“When we go to the overtime, I talk to my players,” De Olivera Periera said. “‘Now, we’re gonna win. We’re gonna win this. We’re gonna win this.’”

What happened in the last 15 minutes of the title match was unlikely, unbelievable, and unforgettable, or as Brazilian power forward Yuri Neptune called it, “magic.”

Redemption

For much of the Brazilian side, it was the first experience at the FISU Games. For some it was a shot at redemption. In 2023 in Chengdu, China, Brazil fell two points short of the title against the Czech Republic.

De Olivera Pereira said he didn’t talk much about the experience with this year’s squad.

“But now,” the coach said, “when I look to the scoreboard, plus five, just a few seconds, it’s unbelievable, because on the last (Games), we shot the last shot, and we missed it.
If we made the basket, we win the gold medal, and we missed it by one shot, and (this year) when the scoreboard had like a few seconds, plus five, come on, come on, come on.”

Only two Brazilian players played in both the Rhine-Ruhr and Chengdu tournaments, Borges and shooting guard Paulo Barbosa Junior.

Borges explained that in 2025, the team felt more united and carried a different energy than the previous Brazilian FISU Games team.

“The group was together, and it feels so great to win gold now,” he said.

On the USA side, head coach Scott Drew gave all the comeback credit to the Brazilians.

In the fourth quarter, Drew said, “They made shots they made free throws. We turned the ball over. We missed free throws, and then we didn’t get stops. So, you add all of that, and then momentum just spilled, and really credit (to) Brazil, they did a great job.”

This was Brazil’s second FISU Games title in men’s basketball, over 60 years after its triumph on home turf in Porto Alegre.

With the silver medal, the USA extended their streak of consecutive podium finishes to five, dating back to Gwangju 2015.

In the bronze medal contest earlier on Saturday, Lithuania defeated Germany 80-70. The host nation was on the wrong end of a Brazil comeback as well in the semifinal round, being outscored 24-9 in the fourth quarter.

Another prime display of Brazilian magic.

The Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU World University Games take place from 16-27 July. Watch all the competitions live on fisu.tv. Click on the link to find the full schedule

Written by Fisher Madsen, FISU Young Reporter, USA

The Young Reporters Programme exemplifies FISU’s commitment to more than sports competitions. At every FISU World University Games, a group of talented aspiring sports journalists are chosen to cover the competition.