Former Cats, Canada fall to France in Olympics

It was not the Canadian Cats’ day in Paris — or rather, it was simply France’s day. And it wasn’t even Victor Wembanyama taking over to pull off the upset for the host country, France entering the Olympic quarterfinals as 7.5-point underdogs. It was the surprise duo of Guerschon Yabusele and Isaia Cordinier exploding for 42 combined points to help close out the 82-73 victory.

On the losing end, it was a trio of former Kentucky standouts in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jamal Murray and Trey Lyles for Canada, ending their respective Olympic journeys without a medal.

The loss certainly can’t be pinned on Gilgeous-Alexander, who led all scorers with 27 points on 9-19 shooting to go with five rebounds, four assists, one steal and one block in 36 minutes. Canada didn’t get much help outside of that, though, RJ Barrett adding 16 points on 6-11 shooting to round out double-figure scorers. Murray had a rough showing, scoring just seven points on 3-13 from the field to go with five rebounds and three turnovers in 24 minutes. Lyles was essentially a non-factor in 12 minutes of action, finishing with just two points on 0-2 shooting and 2-4 at the line and three rebounds.

Even on a cold shooting night — he finished just 2-10 from the field and 0-6 from three for seven points — Wembanyama still added 12 rebounds, five assists, three steals and a block for France. Yabusele led the way with 22 points on 6-9 shooting, followed by Cordinier with 20, Evan Fournier with 16 and Mathias Lessort with 13 in the winning effort.

The French will be taking on Germany in the Olympic semifinals while Serbia awaits the winner of the United States vs. Brazil on the other side of the bracket. That quarterfinal matchup is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET with a trio of former Wildcats set to suit up in that one in Bam Adebayo, Devin Booker and Anthony Davis.

It’s now on Team USA to give the University of Kentucky gold medalists in 5×5 men’s basketball.