Off the bench, Withers leads the way...

in 119-64 victory over Ukraine in U21 2005 Global Games.

In their 2005 Global Games opener, the 16 finalists for the USA U21 Men’s World Championship Team defeated Ukraine’s U21 National Team 119-64 in Frisco, Texas this afternoon. Leading the way were a trio of North Carolina players, including Charlotte’s Curtis Withers (22 points), Duke’s J.J. Redick (14 points) and Wake Forest’s Justin Gray (13 points). Also in double digits were Oregon’s Aaron Brooks and UConn’s Rudy Gay with 11 apiece.

Curtis Withers - 14 minutes; 8-10 FGs; 1-1 3-pt FGs; 5-5 FTs; 22 points; 3 offensive, 1 defensive, 4 rebounds; 2 fouls; 1 assist; 2 turnovers; 1 block; 4 steals

J.J. Reddick - 11 minutes, 4-9 FGs; 4-8 3-pt FGs; 2-2 FTs; 14 points; 0 offensive, 0 defensive, 0 rebounds; 0 fouls; 2 assists; 1 turnover, 0 blocks; 1 steal

Justin Gray - 10 minutes; 5-9 FGs; 3-6 3-pt FGs; 0-0 FTs; 13 points; 0 offensive, 1 defensive, 1 rebound; 2 fouls; 2 assists; 2 turnovers; 0 blocks; 2 steals

 

Ukraine had 48 turnovers!

USA U21 Finalists Overpower Ukraine 119-64 In Global Games Action

Finalists for the 2005 U21 Men's World Championship Team (1-0) stifled Ukraine (2-2) defensively in their Global Games opener Wednesday afternoon at the Dr. Pepper Star Center in Frisco, Texas, en route to a 119-64 victory. The U.S., which is using the 2005 Global Games as a tune-up for the 2005 FIBA U21 World Championship, to be played Aug. 5-14 in Cordoba and Mar del Plata, Argentina, was buoyed to the win by Curtis Withers' (Charlotte / Charlotte, N.C.) 22 points off the bench.

The United States continues Global Games play against Slovenia (0-2) on July 28 at 8:00 p.m. (all times CDT), followed by an 8:00 p.m. tip-off against Lithuania (1-0) on July 29, and the gold medal game is scheduled for July 30 at 8:00 p.m.

"What we were trying to do was to give everybody a fair shot so that we can honestly get down from 16 to 12 players, so we split it up into quarters," said USA and Saint Joseph's University (Pa.) head coach Phil Martelli. "We didn't tell the players that before the game, we let them figure it out. What I was really interested in was getting in the bright lights. It's good to practice, but you've got to get out with the lights on, in front of the referees, in front of the crowds, with the score, and then you really see some things about players."

The United States opened the game with a Taj Gray (Oklahoma / Wichita, Kan.) put-back at 8:55 and never trailed in the contest. Playing tough defense and breaking Ukraine's zone with a trio of threes, the USA held an 18-6 lead with 3:55 remaining in the first quarter as Justin Gray (Wake Forest / Charlotte, N.C.) tossed in a pair and Rudy Gay (Connecticut / Baltimore, Md.) got a third trey. The U.S. continued to take the suspense out of the game by reeling off 10 straight points and picking Ukraine's pocked three times in the final 2:00 of the quarter to go up 30-11. At halftime the USA's lead had not only expanded to 29 points, 59-30, but the young Americans had been credited with 15 steals and forced 26 turnovers, more than one a minute in that span.

Rajon Rondo gathers his troops together during a quick break in the action.
"They tried to start in a zone, I guess they thought we couldn't shoot the ball," said J.J. Redick (Duke / Roanoke, Va.), who shot 3-of-6 from 3-point in the first half and finished with 14 points. "But we knocked down a bunch of Js in the first half. We were just more athletic and quicker than they were."

By the third quarter the U.S. owned an 89-45 advantage and cruised in for the final 119-64 victory.

In addition to Withers' 22 points and Redick's 14, the USA's effort was aided by 13 from Justin Gray, while Aaron Brooks (Oregon / Seattle, Wash.) and Gay tossed in 11 points apiece. Taj Gray grabbed a team-high six rebounds, Darius Washington, Jr. (Memphis / Winter Park, Fla.) passed off for four assists; while Taj Gray, Terrence Roberts (Syracuse / Jersey City, N.J.) and Withers came up with four steals apiece.

Oleksiy Pecherov led his team with 19 points and 10 rebounds.

The game ended with Ukraine coughing up the ball 48 times on 30 U.S. steals. Passing off for 28 assists on 43 baskets (47.9 percent of the shots were assisted), the United States shot a sizzling 50.0 percent (12-24 3pt FGs) from beyond the arc to foil Ukraine's plan of defending in a zone.

"In the scrimmage we had on Sunday we were a little unorganized, we ran around because we didn't really have any plays set yet," said Withers. "We also weren't really familiar playing with each other, as far as a game concept goes. It took the last two days, four good practices, getting in plays, executions, as well knowing what we had to do to win and getting rebounds. That's what we did today."

Finalists for the 12-member 2005 USA U21 World Championship Team, which is expected to be announced on July 28, include: Ronnie Brewer (Arkansas / Fayetteville, Ark.); Brooks; Mardy Collins (Temple / Philadelphia, Pa.); Glen Davis (Louisiana State / Baton Rouge, La.); Jared Dudley (Boston College / San Diego, Calif.); Nick Fazekas (Nevada / Arvada, Colo.); Gay; Justin Gray; Taj Gray; Allan Ray (Villanova / Bronx, N.Y.); Redick; Roberts; Rajon Rondo (Kentucky / Louisville, Ky.); Washington; Marcus Williams (Connecticut / Los Angeles, Calif.); and Withers.

Acting as Martelli's assistants are collegiate head coaches James ‘Bruiser' Flint from Drexel University (Pa.) and Dennis Felton from the University of Georgia.


Curtis Withers, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
How did it feel to be out on the court again tonight wearing a USA Basketball jersey?
It reminded me of our first game last year against Canada (exhibition) when we got out on the floor the first time. It made you realize what we have as a team, how good we are already and how much better we can be.

You seemed to be firing on all cylinders, both offensively and defensively.
Oh yeah. In the scrimmage we had on Sunday we were a little unorganized, we ran around because we didn't really have any plays set yet. We also weren't really familiar playing with each other, as far as a game concept goes. It took the last two days, four good practices, getting in plays, executions, as well knowing what we had to do to win, getting rebounds. That's what we did today.

Will you be able to use your experience last summer to help your teammates adjust to the differences out here?
One thing that a lot of players had to adjust to, and coach hit on, is that all the players are starters on their teams at school. They're not used to coming off the bench and not starting. Playing from the bench, we kind of zoned out so we're going to have to stay with the team game, because we're all one team. There is no ‘I' in this USA team. We're all trying to do the same thing, accomplish one goal, and that's winning the gold. We're going to have to come together and do what we need to do to win.

 

Scrimmage right? I mean they still haven't made the final cuts.

 

Sorta a scrimmage, they're real games as a preliminary to the FIBA U21 World Championship next week.


After the conclusion of the Global Games and following two more days of practices, July 31 and Aug. 1 (sites and times TBD), the American team will travel to Mar del Plata, Argentina, for its final practices before tipping off play at the 2005 FIBA U21 World Championship against China on Aug. 5 at 3:30 p.m. (all U21 World Championship times EDT). The United States will then face Lithuania on Aug. 6 at 2:30 p.m. and Puerto Rico on Aug. 7 at 6:30 p.m. Following a day off, the USA is slated to face Nigeria on Aug. 9 at 3:00 p.m. and will close out preliminary round play on Aug. 10 with a 12:45 p.m. contest against Slovenia. The quarterfinals, semifinals and finals will be played Aug. 12-14.

Contested Aug. 5-14 in Cordoba and Mar del Plata, Argentina, the 2005 FIBA Men's U21 World Championship will consist of 12 national teams split into two groups for preliminary round-robin play. The top four teams in each group will advance to the medal quarterfinals, while the 5th and 6th place finishing teams in each group will compete for
9th-12th place.

Initiated in 1993 as the FIBA 22 & Under World Championship, the USA captured gold in the inaugural tournament with a perfect 8-0 record. In 1997, the Americans compiled a 5-2 record and finished fifth. Most recently in 2001, with the event known as the FIBA World Championship For Young Men and Martelli assisting on the sidelines, the USA was impressive, rolling to an unblemished 8-0 mark to capture gold.

The USA men are not only defending FIBA World Champs at the U21 level, but the U.S. squad last summer dominated its FIBA Americas competition in striking gold with a 5-0 record. Overall, in the three previous FIBA World Championships for this age group, the USA has won gold twice and compiled a 22-2 record.

 

so without reading all that stuff, waht do you mean?

 

All three NC players played well with Curt playing the best. It was just an exhibition so take from it what you will.

 

Final U21 Roster Set...

All three NC players make the cut. Withers, Riddick, and Gray.

U21 Final Roster

Roster:

Forwards: Curtis Withers (Charlotte) , Glen Davis (LSU), Taj Gray (Okla), Terrance Roberts (Syracuse), and Nick Fazekas (Nevada)

PGs: Marcus Williams (UCONN), Rajon Rondo (Kentucky), and Mardy Collins (Temple)

SGs: JJ Reddick (Duke), Justin Gray (Wake), Rudy Gay (UCONN) and Allan Ray (Villanova)