HERAKLION, GREECE— Jalen Green picked up his nickname “The Unicorn” in ninth grade when Dennis Gates, an assistant coach from Florida State, visited fabled San Joaquin Memorial High School in Fresno, Calif. to scout prospects during a regular season game and was blown away by his precocious talent.

Green, a 6-5, 172 pound prodigy, who turned 17 in February, is the youngest player on USA Basketball’s U19 team in FIBA’s World Championship tournament here, has had a Zion Williamson impact on the game, picking up over 407,000 followers on his Instagram account who has become blown away by the mix tape of his spectacular array of dunks on the summer travel circuit.

‘’I feel like I am different,’’ Green claimed. “Like, not even on the court. On the court you can tell I’m different—I play different. I score buckets. People notice me. But off the court I’m different too. You know, I’m the unicorn. What else can I say.’’

Whenever Green is asked to pose for a photo by one of his fans, he tends to throw his index finger onto his forehead, symbolizing the unicorn’s defining feature, sending a message to the basketball world that he is special. He has already been compared to Tracy McGrady, Penny Hardaway and even the iconic Kobe Bryant and established a style trend by wearing rolled up shorts.

Green’s growing fan base has international roots. He is part Filipino with his mother and grandfather coming from that island country that is wild for the sport. The Filipino community has even bestowed Green with the nickname – “Idol.’’

Green has embraced his heritage and played in exhibition tournaments in the country and appeared in a dunk contest where he drew down a vicious dunk over 7-0 NBA prospect Kai Sotto during a trip to Asia.

Green has been a special talent ever since he emerged as a star as a high school freshman, when he averaged 18.1 points, 9 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game. His numbers went up to 27.9 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists as a sophomore and 33 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists as a junior. He broke the school career scoring record previously set by Roscoe Pondexter from 1968 through 1971 and helped lead his team to a second consecutive CIF Division II Central section state championship.

Green, who has announced he will transfer to Prolific Prep in Napa. Calif. for his senior year to play against stronger competition. He is already somewhat of a legend in his hometown, where he even has a rap song called “Ballin’ With Jalen” which was created by local artists and gets a lot of play from Green and his friends.

Green has emerged as the second ranked best prospect in the Class of 2020, behind 6-11 Evan Mobley of Rancho Christian, Calif. High, who is also on this USA U19 roster but has been plagued by back problems and has not played in the last three games. Green has yet to announce his official list. But he has already visited Memphis and Florida State and reportedly has plans to visit Oregon, Arizona State and Kentucky.

Green has flourished in international basketball. winning two gold medals playing for USA Basketball’s U16 Champions of the Americas team at age 15 and the U17 World Championship last summer as a 16-year old where he was selected MVP in the tournament, which was held in Argentina.

“I’ve always been the youngest player on each USA Basketball team I’ve played on,’’ he admitted. “It helps me because I can go out there and still put on a show, do what I do best and get the recognition for being the youngest player here. It can hurt me at this level because a lot of the guys are obviously going to be physically stronger than me.’’

The versatile Green is used to looking like a shining star on every national youth team he has played on. But he is just one of 11 players who capable of breakout moments for this U.S. team, which blew by Latvia, 116-66, in a Round of 16 game Wednesday at University Hall to advance to the quarterfinals against Russia Friday at Heraklion Indoor Sports Arena. “Any one on this team can step up and have a big game,’’ Green said.

The U.S.—which got 17 points from Villanova incoming freshman forward Jeremiah Robinson Earl, who shot 7-9; and Purdue sophomore forward Trevion Williams, who also grabbed 12 rebounds, put six players in double figures against Latvia. Green has had his moments, with a 10-point, 5 steal performance during a hard fought 102-84 win over Lithuania in Group play. He came off the bench against Latvia to score eight, knocking down his first two threes of the competition. The Americans had a breakout day from the international three, making 12 of 29 attempts.

“We need shooters,’’ USA coach Bruce Weber said. “That’s one of the things we’re looking for from both Jalen and Jalen Suggs (another U17 from Minnehaha Academy) as this tournament progresses.’’

The Americans, who are averaging 104 points in this tournament destroyed Latvia—which played Canada to a one-point game in Group D competition with high energy defense. “The Canadian coach said Latvia plays pretty basketball and we couldn’t let them play pretty basketball. We wanted to disrupt them. We did a lot of switching, which took them out of their stuff and then our athleticism and depth. I told them the first five minutes they’ve got to feel us.

“It was a quick turn- around for us, less than 24 hours, but it was less for them. So, I thought if we kind of smacked them right away we could break their spirit and I thought that happened. We had 58 deflections and losses balls.’’

 The USA outrebounded Latvia, 56-36 and converted 27 Latvian turnovers into 39 points, outscoring them, 34-7, in transition and 67-44 off the bench.

The games get harder from here. Russia, which defeated China, 96-83 in their Round of 16 game, is a dangerous offensive team with multiple knock down wing shooters like Alexsandr Ershov, Dmitri Kadoshnokov and Zahkar Vedishchev.

 But no one left in the field has a Unicorn.