The USA and Canada could be on a collision course for a semifinal matchup in the FIBA U19 World Cup in Cairo, Egypt next Saturday after the Americans won on Sunday while the Canadians lost.
The USA improved to 2-0 with a 109-68 rout of Angola. The USA has now beaten its first two opponents — Iran and Angola — by a combined 101 points.
Georgia Tech’s Josh Okogie went for 17 points and 10 rebounds, Auburn’s Austin Wiley had 16 points and 16 rebounds and Kentucky’s Hamidou Diallo scored 15 points.
Immanuel Quickly (John Carroll School/Bel Air, Md.) and Brandon McCoy (Cathedral Catholic H.S/San Diego, Calif.) each contributed 12 points, and Cameron Reddish (Westtown School/Norristown, Pa.) and PJ Washington (Findlay Prep/Las Vegas, Nev.) scored 11 points apiece.
“I thought we made some strides. We’re defending a little bit better, we still have to talk more. All I’m trying to get them to do is play with great pace and then if it’s not there, run something. You know, just make a play,” stated USA head coach John Calipari.
“I keep telling them, ‘let’s play against ourselves, let’s not worry who’s out there. Let’s just keep seeing if we can execute better, if we can concentrate more, if we can talk more, so by the end of this we’re in pretty good shape and we’ll be a pretty good team.'”
Asked what he saw his role on the star-studded team being, the 6-foot-9 and 250-pound Wiley responded, “Just rebounding, doing my role. Scoring when I got the ball, cleaning up on misses and hitting my free throws.
Meantime, Canada lost to Spain, 78-73, despite 16 points and 8 rebounds from incoming Oregon forward Abu Kigab and 11 and 7 from incoming Iowa State guard Lindell Wigginton. Superstar R.J. Barrett was limited to 10 points on 3-for-15 shooting. Canada is now 1-1.
The Americans next play Italy on Tuesday, while Canada meets Japan.
