Jose Juan Barea, an America East all-rookie choice last season, showcased his basketball talents while playing for his home country of Puerto Rico in this year’s FIBA Men’s Junior World Championship tournament in Greece, earning All-Tournament honors.
Barea, who helped lead Puerto Rico to a sixth-place finish in a field of 16 teams from around the world, finished second only to University of Missouri-bound Linas Kleiza in total points scored with 216 in eight tournament games. Barea's average of 27 points per game put him well ahead of other significant names in the tournament, including Sofoklis Schortsanitis, selected by the Los Angeles Clippers with the 34th overall pick in the recent NBA Draft. Barea also led all players in assists with 47. He finished third overall in both two-point and three-point field goal shooting, knocking down 58-97 from inside the arc (60 percent), while draining a tournament-leading 48 percent of his three-pointers (23-48). He also led the team in free throw shooting, sinking 31-39 attempts (79 percent).
Barea had two of his strongest outings against the U.S. team. In a quarterfinal loss to the U.S. on July 14, Barea went 13-of-22 from the field with 35 points, scoring 16 of his team’s 19 first-quarter points. Puerto Rico again matched up with the U.S. in its final game (for fifth place) on July 20, and it was more of the same from Barea, who shot 14-of-25 from the field for 32 points. Puerto Rico battled back from an 18-point deficit in the game, but lost 82-80 to take sixth place overall.
Barea made an immediate impact in his freshman season for Northeastern. Starting in all 28 games in which he played last season, he led the team and was third in the America East in scoring with 17.0 points per game. He was named third team America East All-Conference also earned a spot on the league's All-Rookie and All-Tournament teams. Barea became only the second Northeastern freshman to lead the team in scoring and the first to score 400 points and record 100 assists in his rookie season. He also led the Huskies with 25 double-figure scoring games and was the only player in the America East to rank in the top 10 in scoring (third/7.0), assists (third/3.89) and steals (seventh/1.57).