Craig Smith (Los Angeles, Calif./Boston College) dominated the paint with 23 points and nine rebounds as the USA jumped out to a big early lead and coasted to an 85-70 victory over Slovakia, with the Americans improving to 2-0 at the Summer World University Games in Izmir, Turkey.
Joining Smith in double figures for the Americans were Shelden Williams (Oklahoma City, Okla./Duke) with 13 points, while Vincent Grier (Charlotte, N.C./Minnesota) added 10 points. Behind Williams’ 10 rebounds, the USA out-rebounded Slovakia 47-25.
With Smith scoring all 10 points, the USA jumped out to a 10-6 lead in the first quarter. A 3-point field goal by Chris Hernandez (Fresno, Calif./Stanford) late in the period capped a 17-8 run and gave the Americans a 27-14 lead after one.
“I tried to start the fire and get us off to a good start and we did that,” said Smith, who connected on 8 of 10 field goal attempts on the afternoon. “It was another learning step for us. Obviously we are very experienced, but we haven’t played at this type of level as a team. In the end it’s going to pay off for us.”
Williams, who has been nursing a sore foot, came off the USA bench to score 12 first half points, eight in the second quarter when the Americans built a 53-31 halftime lead. The men connected on 22 of 41 first half field goal attempts and forced 11 Slovakia turnovers.
“Craig came out real aggressive and set the tone, and when I came in I tried to be an energy player to boost those who were getting tired,” said Williams, who posted a double-double. “We have a lot of offensive weapons on this team. We can hurt you from outside and inside.”
The USA stretched its lead to 69-38 in the third quarter, only to see Slovakia make a late run to cut the advantage to 71-48 at the end of three. Matt Harayasz (Page, Ariz./Stanford) had five points in the quarter to lead the USA.
Slovakia, which connected on 50 percent of its field goal attempts, outscored the USA by a 22-14 count in the fourth quarter, but 15 points was as close as they would get. Using a full court press at times in the first two games of pool play, the USA has now forced 53 turnovers.
“I think we have a very balanced scoring team,” said USA head coach Jay Wright (Villanova). “I thought we could have gotten Craig (Smith) a little more involved in the second half, but you have to give Slovakia credit for their defense pushing him out in the second half.”
The Americans will return to action on Sunday, Aug. 14 with a 12:45 p.m. game against Germany at Celal Atik in the final game of pool play.
“Germany is very talented, they beat this Slovakia team by 20,” said Wright. “I think its going to be a very difficult game against them.”
