Patrick Mills - Australian National Team

Australian National Team

After repeating as Staunton Medallist in 2007, Mills completed his scholarship with the AIS and opted to play for Saint Mary's. Before arriving in the Bay Area in August 2007, he played for Australia at the FIBA U-19 World Championship in Serbia, in which Australia finished fifth. He was then called up to the Boomers in July 2007, making his debut against Austria on 31 July in an international friendly tournament in Bormio, Italy. Mills scored 11 points off the bench and was credited with changing the complexion of the match, which Australia won 84–63. This not only made him one of the youngest Boomers ever, but also made him only the third Indigenous Australian, after Michael Ah Mat in the 1960s and Danny Morseu in the 1980s, to play for the Boomers. Mills went on to make the Boomers squad for the FIBA Oceania Championship, which doubled as a qualifier for the 2008 Olympics. His main highlight in the competition, which was a three-match series against Australia's trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand, came in the second and ultimately deciding match. Mills came off the bench to score 17 points, helping lead the Boomers to a 93–67 rout of the Tall Blacks that punched their ticket to Beijing.

Mills was a member of the Australian squad that gave the USA Basketball team its closest tune-up game of the summer before the Beijing Olympics. The USA National team beat Australia 87–76 in its exhibition game in Shanghai, China. Australia's star player, the Milwaukee Bucks' Andrew Bogut, did not play because of a sore right ankle. Mills, the youngest player on the floor, was impressive as he added 13 points for the Australian squad.

Mills averaged a team-best 14.2 points, all off the bench, in the six games the Aussies played in Beijing. He scored 20 points in a quarterfinal loss to the United States, with three assists, two steals and zero turnovers in 28 minutes.

At the London International Basketball Invitational, the Boomers lost a tight contest to France 71–67. Playing against NBA star Tony Parker, Mills scored a team high 20 points. The following game against Croatia, Mills led the Boomers to a 78–66 win, scoring a game high 22 points.

At the 2012 Olympic basketball tournament, Mills had the highest scoring average with 21.2 points per game, ahead of Kevin Durant of the USA, who averaged 19.5 points per game.