USA and Canada are on a collision course for the gold medal
The group stage of Olympic basketball wrapped up on Saturday, and the two favorites, USA and Canada, each of which roster three former Kentucky players, are on a collision course for the gold medal.
Both Team USA and Canada won all three of their group stage games and if each were to win their quarterfinal and semifinal matchups, they would face off next weekend in the finals for the gold medal in Paris.
To get to this point, Devin Booker, Anthony Davis, and Bam Adebayo combined for 22 points as they coasted by Puerto Rico in their final group game on Saturday afternoon by a score of 104-83. Davis led the team with two blocks to go along with this 10 points and six boards, while Book and Bam chipped in nine points and three points respectively.
On Friday, Shai-Gilgeous Alexander led Team Canada with 20 points in an 88-85 win over Spain in their third game of the Olympics. Fellow Kentucky alumni Jamal Murray and Trey Lyles contributed four and three points of their own. While the latter two haven’t showcased the fullest extent of their talent thus far, everything resets as they head into the single-elimination tournament.
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Big Ten will not punish Wolverines or Spartans following the end-of-game fight on Saturday.
Shoutout to Wenyen Gabriel and South Sudan
Unfortunately, the other former ‘Cat participating in the competition, Wenyen Gabriel, will not be advancing. His South Sudan team went 1-2 in their group but lost the tiebreaker in point differential to Greece and Brazil. They had a chance to win the right to advance to the tournament portion of the games on Saturday but fell to Serbia 96-85. Gabriel finished with nine points and eight rebounds in the losing effort.
Ultimately, the South Sudanese have nothing to hang their head about. The world’s youngest country made their first ever Olympiad and represented their homeland magnificently.
Now all eyes are set on Team USA and Canada. In the quarterfinals, USA will face off against Brazil on Tuesday at 3:30 pm EST while Team Canada will precede them on Tuesday against France at noon.
Good luck to all the former ‘Cats vying for gold.
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