Top Mid-Major Performers at the FIBA U20 EuroBasket
Saint Mary's European pipeline continues with two top performers as Murray State has another blossoming star in Mark Padjen to join Roman Domon.
Every year the FIBA U20 EuroBasket delivers us with some incredible basketball during the offseason for those of us here in the United States. It’s a chance to watch some of the young and upcoming stars in the game, some of which are committed or are already playing collegiately in the NCAA.
This year was no different. What I love about this competition is, we get glimpses players who flew under-the-radar with their recruitment, ended up at a Mid-Major program, and now are starting to show the world what they can do. Over the last couple of years, we watched Roman Domon who is a budding star at Murray State, Dragos Lungu who was looking like a breakout candidate at UT Martin before an injury, and Gabriel Pozzato who starred as a freshman at Evansville before landing at Xavier last year.
Let’s take a look at four players that dominated in the 2026 FIBA U20 EuroBasket that are headed to a Mid-Major team this coming season.
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Mark Padjen (Murray State)
We have another Murray State Racer that dominated in the FIBA U20 EuroBasket this season, following in Roman Domon’s footsteps. Mark Padjen is a 6’5 guard out of Slovenia with a prolific ability to lead a team as a floor general. Through seven games, he averaged 15.7 points, 2.7 rebounds, 5.6 assists, and 1.7 steals while shooting 50.8% overall and 33.3% from three-point on 3.9 attempts per game.
Coming into the summer, he played for Ilirija in the ABA League where he was a vital player. Throughout 20 games, he averaged 11.3 points, five assists, 3.2 rebounds, and nearly one steal per game. He shot 42.5% overall, 50% from inside the arc, and 35.4% from three-point.
What truly stands out to me is the natural ability he has to be a floor general. While playing with Slovenia he averaged just 2.3 turnovers, and with Ilirija he averaged 2.3 as well. That’s over a 2:1 assist to turnover ratio at just 20 against some strong talent. Let’s compare to a player that put up some similar statistics last year in the same tournament: Omer Mayer of the Purdue Boilermakers.
Mayer went on to average 5.5 points, 1.1 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game in 39 games with the Boilermakers last season as a freshman. He shot 41.2% overall and 35.5% from three-point, and he had some strong games against tough competition in the Big-10. He dropped 18 against IU, eleven against No. 11 Illinois, and nine against No. 11 Nebraska.
For Israel, he averaged 16.7 points, 2.6 rebounds, 5.1 assists , and 1.1 steals across seven games while shooting 41.2% overall and 37.3% from three-point. He also averaged 3.7 turnovers per game. If we compare Mayer & Padjen’s metrics, here’s how they shape out:
Across the board, Mark Padjen outperformed Mayer in the majority of categories. This is a player who had a role on a top-ten team, and at one point the number one team in the AP Poll last year. Padjen is joining Murray State which is already loaded with talent, however, this is a player that you are going to have to watch this season.
Salih Altuntas (Saint Mary’s)
The Saint Mary’s pipeline with European players continues this season with a couple of players on this list. Salih Altuntas is a 6’10 center from Turkey with a strong natural ability to score and clear the glass. He spent last season with the Miami Hurricanes where he appeared in 32 games and averaged 7.8 minutes per game. He finished the season with a line of 1.6 points and 1.9 rebounds per game while shooting 65.7% overall. He scored just five points in the ACC, but he had a couple of strong performances in the non-conference slate of their schedule. he had a 13 point, eleven rebound, and four steal game against Delaware State in their 97-41 blowout win.
Altuntas averaged 13.6 points, 8.1 rebounds, 1.1 assists, and 1.6 blocks per game throughout Turkey’s seven games in the FIBA U20 EuroBasket session. He finished with two double-doubles against Germany and Italy. Arguably his best game came against Croatia where he finished with 24 points, eight rebounds, two assists, and two steals, but notably just two fouls. He fouled out in four of the seven games and averaged 4.1 per game…a clear area for improvement.
If he can work on cutting down the fouls, he’ll provide the Gaels with a huge presence down low this season in year one with Mickey McConnell at the helm.
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Panagiotis Pagonis (Drexel)
The 6’9 forward played his first season in college basketball last year with the New Orleans Privateers which was a fun and scrappy team to watch. Panagiotis Pagonis averaged 4.1 points with 3.1 rebounds and one assist per game across 30 appearances. The freshman shot 34.3% overall and 24.5% from three-point. His best game of the season came against Pepperdine where he finished with 17 points, five rebounds, two assists, and drained three of his six attempts from beyond the arc.
For Greece, he averaged 14.9 points, 7.6 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 1.1 steals per game across seven appearances. He shot 44.6% overall and 41.9% from three-points on 4.4 attempts per game. What impresses me the most is, at 6’9 he actually possesses quite the ability to distribute the ball. At New Orleans, he finished with a 10.6 assist rate and with Greece it jumped to 22.7%, but given his turnovers were a bit high.
Pagonis transferred to Drexel for the coming season, but if he can tap into more of his offensive capabilities from beyond the arc and continue to develop his playmaking abilities then the Dragons might have themselves a budding underrated star.
Mantas Juzenas (Saint Mary’s)
Death, taxes, and Saint Mary’s finding hidden gems in Europe. Mantas Juzenas is returning to the Gaels this season after taking his freshman season as a developmental year. He appeared in 26 games last season while averaging just 5.8 minutes. In those minutes, he took advantage as he finished the year averaging 2.1 points and 1.4 rebounds while shooting 45.9% overall and 48.4% from three-point. The 6’6 guard didn’t disappoint in big moments as he had 12 points with two rebounds against No. 9 Gonzaga in their huge 70-59 win as he drained four of his six attempts from three-point.
For Lithuania, he averaged 15.1 points, 10.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and one steal per game while shooting 48.1% overall, but just 27.5% from three-point on 5.7 attempts. He was remarkable from inside with a 69.2% shooting percentage. On the glass, he was essentially a magnet. He hit double-digit rebounds in four of the seven games, including just an absurd 20 rebounds against Israel. On the offensive end, he also reached 46 points (yes, 46 points!!) against Poland along with 12 rebounds and five assists.
With Paulius Murauskas gone, there is a huge void for a player that can fill up a stat sheet both on the offensive end and on the glass. While Juzenas is smaller than Murauskas, there’s a great chance that he can step up and take a huge leap in his sophomore season. It’s worth noting that the majority of his offensive statistics in the tournament came from that game against Poland. He finished with less than ten points in three of the games, and he didn’t get higher than 13 outside of the 46 point game. There’s definitely room to grow offensively, but he could turn into a monster for the Saint Mary’s Gaels.