J.J. Redick (Duke / Roanoke, Va.) hit a USA U21 record-tying six 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 22 points to lead the 2005 USA U21 World Championship Team (4-0) past Nigeria (1-3) 113-78 at the 2005 FIBA U21 World Championship on Tuesday evening in Mar del Plata, Argentina. With the win, the United States clinched the top spot in Group B and will face the fourth place finisher of Group A in the Aug. 12 medal quarterfinal (time TBD). Before quarterfinals action commences, the U.S. will close out preliminary round play against Slovenia (2-2) on Aug. 10 at 12:45 p.m. (EDT).
“I thought that after having a day off and trying to get our energy back, we changed our lineup, tried to do some different things,” said USA and Saint Joseph’s University (Pa.) head coach Phil Martelli. “We really appreciated the effort that the Nigerian team gave and I felt that we did a really good job of spreading around the opportunities that weren’t available in the Puerto Rico game.
“The thing I’ve been impressed by with these guys is there’s no entitlement. There’s no, ?I’m a starter and he’s not.’ Or ?I should get shots and he shouldn’t.’ There’s none of that. There’s been an awful lot of sharing. Tonight was obviously an opportunity to play against ourselves, not really to play against Nigeria. I thought we did a nice job of things, with J.J. (Redick) getting going and Nick Fazekas to have a double-double after he didn’t play much against Puerto Rico. I’m very conscious of the psychology of keeping this team together.”
Coach Martelli switched things up from the start with a fresh starting five that wasted no time getting things going. Terrence Roberts (Syracuse / Jersey City, N.J.) won the opening tip and five seconds into the game Redick hit his first three. From there the starters ran out to a 17-6 lead and by the end of the first quarter the USA was on top 29-18, despite five first quarter turnovers that mostly came from bad passes straight into Nigeria’s hands.
With 7:35 to go before half the U.S. was still on top by 11 points, 33-22. Tightening up its defensive pressure, while also making crisper passes that were right on target, the USA took off on a 12-0 run that saw four different players score and at 3:54 the lead had ballooned to 45-22. By halftime the Americans were up 53-34 behind 10 points from Rajon Rondo (Kentucky / Louisville, Ky.), who finished with 19, and eight points and seven rebounds by Nick Fazekas (Nevada / Arvada, Colo.), who notched the game’s sole double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds.
“I felt I played real well, I just couldn’t get the long ball to go down,” said Fazekas, who also had three blocks. “But that’s no big deal. I felt like I actually went out there and contributed to a win tonight. That’s the positive thing for me is that I helped contribute to a win and I went out there and helped my team.”
The Americans pulled away 64-38 with 16:24 remaining in the game and never looked back. Outscoring Nigeria 30-22 in both the third and fourth quarters, the United States cruised through the latter half of the game for the eventual 113-78 win. Redick hit his final five 3-pointers and scored a total of 17 points over a 5:00 span during a 21-9 run, which started with 11:03 remaining in the contest and closed with the USA up 98-63 with 6:03 to go.
Redick tied the USA U21 single-game record that is also held by former Boston College (Mass.) standout Troy Bell, who nailed his six against Croatia in the 2001 U21 Worlds. The team set a new record for field goals attempted with 93, a record previously held by the 2001 USA team with 85 attempts versus Japan and also tied the blocked shot record, also set in 2001 against Japan, with eight.
“They were in a zone for most of the second half when I got going,” said Redick. “My teammates just found me and I got some open shots.”
Also aiding in the U.S. attack were Mardy Collins (Temple / Philadelphia, Pa.) and Justin Gray (Wake Forest / Charlotte, N.C.) , who had 11 points apiece, and Rudy Gay (Connecticut / Baltimore, Md.), who finished with 10. Marcus Williams (Connecticut / Los Angeles, Calif.) dished out 10 assists and scored five points.
Abubaker Usman was Nigeria’s leading scorer with 18 points, while Florida State University signee Uche Echefu and Stanley Gumut each had 17.
The USA connected on over 50 percent (47-93 FGs) of its shots from the field, but the team, which averaged 43.8 percent from 3-point through three contests, dropped just 34.3 percent (12-35 3pt FGs) from afar against Nigeria. Outrebounding Nigeria 51-39, the United States got 20 on the offensive glass. Further, after the five first quarter turnovers, the U.S. finished the night with 14 in all.
Acting as Martelli’s assistants are collegiate head coaches Dennis Felton from the University of Georgia and James ?Bruiser’ Flint from Drexel University (Pa.).
In other Group B action, Lithuania (3-1) downed Slovenia (2-2) 92-74, while Puerto Rico (2-2) defeated China (0-4) 101-65. Group A games, played in Cordoba, saw Australia (4-0) come from behind to remain undefeated after edging Israel (1-3) 105-104, while Greece (2-1) and Canada (1-2) play in the late game. Argentina (3-1) improved to 3-1 due to Iran’s forfeit.
