Tickets On Sale June 30 For International Basketball Doubleheader Featuring The USA Men’s National Team at Madison Square Garden

Tickets for the Aug. 15 international basketball doubleheader featuring the USA Basketball Men’s National Team and three of the world’s best national teams go on sale on Wed., June 30 at 12:00 p.m. EDT, USA Basketball announced today.

As part of the single admission doubleheader, the USA Basketball Men’s National Team will face France at 1 p.m. EDT in the first game, while China will meet Puerto Rico at 3:30 p.m. EDT in the second contest. Tickets, which start at $15, will be available on the web via www.Ticketmaster.com and www.thegarden.com, by phone at 1-800-4-NBA-TIX, and at the box office at Madison Square Garden.

The doubleheader at Madison Square Garden is part of the first ever World Basketball Festival, a four-day celebration of the performance and culture of the game of basketball being held by Nike and USA Basketball in New York City Aug. 12-15. The festival officially tips off on Aug. 12 when the USA Basketball Men’s National Team takes part in a special showcase in an unprecedented open-air setting in Times Square on Aug. 12, and moves uptown to New York City's legendary basketball courts at Rucker Park in Harlem, Friday and Saturday, August 13 and 14. Along with the game against France at Madison Square Garden, the USA Basketball Men’s National Team will play three world basketball powers in exhibition games – or “friendlies” – in preparation for the 2010 FIBA World Championship, being held Aug. 28-Sept. 12 in Turkey. In advance of the tournament, the Americans will also meet Lithuania on Aug. 21 and Spain on Aug. 22 in Madrid, Spain, and play Greece in Athens on Aug. 25.

All of these friendlies are part of the new Global Community Cup, which will include all USA Basketball exhibition games played outside of formal international competitions. Along with the games, the Global Community Cup features a social responsibility element that will highlight USA Basketball’s commitment to giving back to the communities they touch, in the U.S. or abroad. USA Basketball previously announced that the USA National Team will open its 2010 training with a July 19-24 team training camp in Las Vegas. That camp will culminate with the 2010 USA Basketball Showcase, a Blue-White intra-squad game that will be held on Saturday, July 24, 7 p.m. (PDT) at the Thomas & Mack Center on the campus of UNLV. The USA training camp will also feature daily practice sessions from 12-3 p.m. (PDT) July 20-23 at UNLV’s Cox Pavilion.

USA BasketballBased in Colorado Springs, Colo., USA Basketball is a nonprofit organization and the national governing body for men's and women's basketball in the United States. As the recognized governing body for basketball in the United States by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), USA Basketball is responsible for the selection, training and fielding of USA teams that compete in FIBA sponsored international basketball competitions, as well as for some national competitions. For more information about USA Basketball, visit www.usabasketball.com.