KAZAN, July 12 (R-Sport) – The Canadian men’s basketball team beat the United States 94-85 at the 2013 World University Games on Friday to finish first in their group as they stay undefeated heading into the quarterfinals.
The United States had been facing a must-win after a shocking 93-84 loss to Australia on Thursday. On a day when they appeared listless and almost unwilling to guard Canada’s big men in the post, the Americans were relegated from the finals bracket and will miss the chance to improve upon their fifth-place finish at the 2011 Universiade in Shenzhen.
Following a vicious missed dunk attempt by Stanford forward Dwight Powell with 10.6 seconds left in the fourth quarter the Basket Hall went dark for about six minutes. A frisson of excitement shot through the five Canadians on the court, aware that the game was in hand. Both teams took the court with the lights still dim as US guard Spencer Dinwiddie ran out the clock.
“Oh, it’s great,” Canadian head coach Jay Triano said of beating a US squad that came into the Universiade as a gold-medal favorite. “You’re fired up every time you play the United States.”
Heslip, who led the team in scoring with 16.5 points heading into the game, once again paced the athletic Canucks on 6-of-12 shooting and five rebounds at the noisy Basket Hall, Kazan’s signature basketball arena. He had help from 7-foot-2 Arizona State center Jordan Bachynski, who had 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting in the post.
Canada, which plays a development-focused five-men-on, five-men-off rotation – a commitment by head coach Jay Triano to ensure most of his players get serious minutes – will join Australia in the next round, where they’ll form a bracket with Serbia, Romania, Russia, Lithuania and, depending on Friday’s results, a final duo of Germany, Estonia, Finland or Brazil.
While Russia’s undefeated squad consists largely of professional players, the Canadian and American teams are comprised of student-athletes from the college ranks in those two countries.
Whereas the Canadians have been playing together all summer – including a 9-0 run in China during the Four Nations tournament – the US only held its training camp at the end of June.
US head coach Robert McKillop pointed to a lack of USA Basketball experience a reason for his team’s shaky play over their last two games. Only McDermott has a long history with the program.
“I told them this is something for their memory bank,” McKillip said. “Let’s make sure when you invest and commit as much as you have, there’s going to be a return. The first opportunity we have to do something about that is Sunday.”
The quarterfinals start on Sunday.
