World University Games/David Collins Report

[tornado]

David Collins' Canadian Team opens play in the World University Games with a HUGE upset win to go 1-0 in official play...
they beat Italy, 89-80.... David Collins started and played solid defense, helping to limit the Italian starting five
to just 9 baskets in 26 attempts...
David did not have a good offensive game, going just 1-2, and scoring 2 pts, but his teammates picked up the slack...
The Canadians hit 7 of 13 3-pt attempts, compared to the Italians' 2/17!
and a total of 65 fouls called in the game, 84 FT's being shot.


For you Iowa State guys...
the Germans lost to the Latvians 80-756, but Lucca Staiger had a decent game..
Lucca was 8-16, 4-11 from 3-pt, and 2 rebs, 2 asst, 3 steals

Israel beat Brazil 82-70 with ex-Wichita State Shocker Gal Mekel getting 12 pts on 5-13, 4 rebs, 3 asst, 4 TO


The US Men do not play until tomorrow, and face Finland at 10PM in Belgrade
The US women beat France yesterday 115-30 (that's correct, an 85 pt blowout!), and they beat Great Britain 93-59 today.

[tornado]

The US just got done beating Finland 87-40 at the WUG
Craig Brackins 16 pts, Robbie Hummel 10, Finland only 4-24 from 3-pt
USA is 1-0

[tornado]

Today's games at the World University Games in Belgrade, Serbia are already begun.

David Collins' Canada squad is about to tip off vs. China, and the US plays a little later vs. Korea.

In one game that's at half...German leads South Africa 35-19, with Iowa State's Lucca Staiger having 13 pts on 5-11, and 3-7 from 3-pt.
Staiger also has 5 rebs & 4 asst. at half.

[romar]

Are these games being televised anywhere (even online?).

[tornado]

Glad you asked.........
unfortunately none of the World University Games is televised.

BUT--- many of the games at the U19 World Championships clear across the world in New Zealand are being televised on the web on a delayed basis..

Just go to this schedule page, and click on any of the games where it says...
"Watch" or "Re-Watch"

http://www.newzealand2009.fiba.com/pages/eng/fe/09/u19men/p/schedule.html

Thus far none of the US games is available to watch or re-watch...but games continue all the way through Sunday, July 12, so surely some of the US games can be viewed.




Lastly.....the Germans have completed their rout of South Africa, 86-42, with Iowa State's Lucca Staiger
finishing with 13 pts, as it appears he didn't even play in the 2nd half as the German subs torpedoes the RSA guys

http://results.ub2009.org/results/ENG/BK/BKR173A_BK0400P0700023ENG.htm

[tornado]

USA beats Korea 113-76

http://results.ub2009.org/results/ENG/BK/BKR173A_BK0400P0800028ENG.htm

7 players in double figures, and we outrebound the Koreans by a whopping 62-21 margin. (but we had 26 turnovers)

[tornado]

DC's team in trouble...
they are at close to half vs. Russia, down by a dozen...
Canada doesn't have any 3-pt shooters,

[tornado]

Canada loses to Russia, 89-77, David Collins has a bad game - scoreless, but the team shot only 31% overall, despite outrebounding the Russians 57-35.
Canada made a late run outscoring Russia 29-19 in the 4th quarter, but couldn't catch up.


Team USA is leading Greece 43-36 at half...with balanced scoring, 10 players have scored but we are just 2-12 from 3-pt...
we really need some good outside shooters!!

[tornado]

Game nearly over..US leads Greece in Belgrade 95-65, pulling away with a 31-15 4th quarter.
Deon Thompson 17 pts, Craig Brackins 7 pts/7 rebs
USA now go to 3-0 and have one more pool game vs. Serbia, then enter the medal round in good position...
Medal round games start Thursday.

[tornado]

American Women just beat the Czechs 110-76
American men play Serbia later today
Canadian men play Israel later today

[tornado]

US having their toughest game yet vs. Serbia...
The US trailed 18-15 after 1st quarter, and are now only up one 45-44 early in 2nd half. Serbia has some monster guys/7-footers, and are going to the line often so far...

[tornado]

The US effectively uses a control game in the 4th quarter of a very tight game vs. Serbia, and outscores the Serbians 11-10 in the 4th quarter to hold on and win 68-66.
So the US wins their pool with a 3-0 record, Serbia is 2-1, Finalnd 1-2 , and Greece 0-3.

Other pool winners are Lithuania, Israel, Turkey, Iran, Brazil, and Japan.

Our men are off tomorrow, then begin elimination play Thursday.
We start with a game vs. Bulgaria at 8PM local time in Belgrade.
Then if we win, we advance to the semis Friday, and the finals Saturday for the GOLD MEDAL!

The World University Games encompasses all sports, not just basketball, and a lot of these sports like Archery, Gymnastics, Table Tennis, Tae Kwon Do, etc....the other nations are always very good at...
thus the total medal count thus far shows the USA in 5th place with 5 Gold, 4 Silver, and 5 Bronze medals.
China, Korea, Japan, and Russia are ahead of us in the medal count, mostly on the basis of winning all the Tae Kwon Do, Table Tennis, Fencing, Diving, and Gymnastics medals.
For example, 15 of Korea's 24 total medals are in the various weight categories of Tae Kwon Do,
13 of China's medals are in various disciplines within the rhythmic and artistic gymnastics, something the US kids don't even compete in, and the Russians tallied a lot of fencing medals.


Lastly, just to stay on the topic...Canada lost 89-81 to Israel, Dvid Collins had 5 pts, 2 rebs.
Ex-WSU Shocker Gal Mekel had 20 pts, 9 rebs, 5 asst, but 7 turnovers.