JEFF VAN GUNDY did his job. USA Basketball is headed to the World Cup.

The U.S. rallied late to beat Uruguay 78-70 Sunday night to wrap up a spot next year in the FIBA World Cup in China. The U.S. won the last two World Cups in 2010 and 2014, and will aim to become the first nation to capture three consecutive gold medals.

Travis Trice scored 17 points in the clinching win for the U.S., which used rosters filled primarily by G-League players in qualifying. John Jenkins added 13 points for the Americans (8-2), who have two qualifying games remaining in North Carolina in February.

Gregg Popovich will coach the Americans at the World Cup in China, which also serves as an Olympic qualifier, and he raved about the job Van Gundy did as the U.S. coach in the qualifiers.

“Coach Van Gundy has been brilliant and he’s working for pennies, zero pennies,” Popovich said. “He wants to do it for the country and he loves coaching. There’s nobody better to put a team together quickly.”

The U.S. needed a late 12-0 run to finally seize control, and that was enough to clinch the World Cup berth.

“Hell of a job to get us qualified,” Van Gundy told the Americans in the winning locker room. “Well done.”

Uruguay led 61-54 in the fourth, and was still up 65-60 when the game changed. Jenkins’ 3-pointer with just under 2 minutes left put the Americans up by four, and Chasson Randle connected on another 3 on the next U.S. possession to cap the burst and give the U.S. a 72-65 edge.

Scotty Hopson scored 11 points for the U.S., which has used 46 players in the 10 qualifying games played so far — all of them coached by Van Gundy, who was asked by USA Basketball to take G-League players and get the country into the World Cup. Bruno Fitipaldo led Uruguay with 17 points.

(SD-Agencies)