U21 World Championship - Argentina 2005

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Originally Posted by TwoHandJam

The US lost to us?

:lmao

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:smokin Levon Kendall (Can): 40 points :tu :huh :)

There is an insider report by Andy Katz over at ESPN on the game. From the 1st paragraph, the US team was, "a little tight", which then translated into the loss. Here is the link if anyone has access they can read it. Sorry, I don't have insider.

http://insider.espn.go.com/proxy/pro...%26month%3daug

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Katz' Blog

Phil Martelli walked over to his assistants Bruiser Flint and Dennis Felton before Friday's quarterfinal game against Canada and said, "these guys are a little tight.''
He was referring to his players, the Americans, who were playing a quarterfinal game in Mar del Plata, Argentina, in their quest to defend the gold medal in the FIBA U21 World Championships.

The U.S. lost 93-90 in overtime. The best the Americans can do is finish fifth, but to do that they'll first have to beat Puerto Rico Saturday in a consolation matchup.

Canada.

Let that sink in for a while. And the player that beat the Americans wasn't Steve Nash or Jamaal Magloire.

It was Pittsburgh reserve forward Levan Kendall, who lit the Americans up for 40 points in 42 minutes. In the past five games, Kendall didn't crack the top 30 in scoring in the tournament. He scored just seven points against Israel, four against Greece, nine against Argentina and 11 against Australia. He averaged a mere 3.5 points in 13.9 minutes in 22 games for the Panthers last season.

Get the picture?

"He was shooting 31 percent and averaging eight points prior to this,'' Martelli told ESPN.com by phone from Argentina. "He was backing guys down and shot running hooks and banking in 3s. It was just one of those things.''

Martelli had Charlotte's Curtis Withers, he of a 2-for-11 night, on him.

The Canadians essentially challenged the U.S. at every chance in this game.

"Every time they scored it was like a nine-point play instead of a two-point play,'' Martelli said.

But how does this happen? If the U.S. was going to lose, the thought was it could occur in the semifinals or finals with the possibility that Australia, or maybe host Argentina or even Lithuania would clip the Americans. But Canada?

"There were a lot of things, it's a really, really long trip and you have to factor in the players' maturity level,'' Martelli said. "They've hung in there for a whole trip but this is a different game. This isn't an excuse but the way J.J. [Redick] and Allan Ray were guarded they would have shot double-digit foul shots in the college game. It's not an excuse because we knew what we were getting into. We had to sustain our concentration, our focus and that's challenging for a young team away from home.''

Redick was three of seven and didn't attempt a 3-pointer. Although the Duke senior guard did make it to the line eight times, converting on all eight free throws. Ray was five of 10, making four of five 3s and two free throws as the Villanova senior led the Americans with 16 points.

"This is still the right way to do it and we had the right guys, but it just happened to be one of those days,'' Martelli said. "Canada played with fierce determination. I admire it. We thought we had them down and out when we were up seven in the fourth quarter. They stayed with their game plan.''

Martelli has to get the Americans ready for Saturday's game against Puerto Rico. He said "it will be a challenge and we have to count on the older guys.''

That means Ray, Wake Forest's Justin Gray, Redick, Withers, Oklahoma's Taj Gray and Temple senior Mardy Collins. The U.S. last finished fifth in this event in 1997 when Rick Majerus coached the team in Australia. The 1993 team, coached by Mike Jarvis, won the gold in Spain. The 2001 team, coached by Jim Boeheim and assisted by Martelli, won the gold in Japan.

The Americans went with a 10-man rotation, sitting Nevada junior Nick Fazekas and LSU sophomore Glen Davis. The Canadians outrebounded the U.S. 47-35 and shot 47 percent to the U.S. shooting 37 percent. The Canadians committed 22 turnovers to the U.S. 11 and had only three steals to the U.S. 13 and still beat the Americans in overtime.

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Thanks Kori. The US team beat Puerto Rico 99-79

Playing For Pride, USA U21 Men Push Past Puerto Rico 99-79
With the gold medal out of reach, the U.S. U21 men showed character in rebounding from its quarterfinal loss to Canada and notched a 99-79 victory over Puerto Rico on Saturday afternoon. The U.S. ran out to a 60-35 halftime lead and cruised through the second half for the win, which ups the USA's record to 6-1. Allan Ray and Justin Gray helped pave the way with 17 and 16 points, respectively. More to come!

http://www.usabasketball.com/

Tournament ended yesterday, Lithuania was the champion over Greece.

The US run over Argentina to finish 5th.

MVP

Renaldas Seibutis (LTU)

All-Star 5

Renaldas Seibutis (LTU)
Yotam Halperin (ISR)
Konstantinos Vasileiadis (GRE)
Levon Kendall (CAN)
Loukas Mavrokefalidis (GRE)

Final Ranking:

1. Lithuania
2. Greece
3. Canada
4. Australia
5. USA
6. Argentina
7. Puerto Rico
8. Slovenia
9. Nigeria
10. Israel
11. China
12. Iran