following the close of his freshman year at villanova, bell was selected to the u.s. team sent to riga, latvia for the 2011 fiba under-19 world championship. bell started all nine matches and averaged 3.8 points per game on and 3.1 rebounds per contest. the united states finished 7–2, good for fifth in the tournament. his best game was a 16-point, eight-rebound performance to help the u.s. defeat canada 83–34 in the opening day of the second round of the tournament.