Olympic Basketball: Previewing USA vs. Nigeria

At 5:15 PM Eastern Time, Team USA will take on Nigeria.  The game will air on the NBC Sports Network (check your local provider for listings). This afternoon, the US will resume action in men’s basketball in Pool A play against Nigeria at London’s Olympic Park Basketball Arena.  Team USA has defeated both France and Tunisia in Olympic Pool Play this summer.  They have won 11consecutive games in the Olympics now.

Entering the game, Nigeria is 1-1 in pool play.  They defeated Tunisia 60-56 on Sunday and lost to Lithuania with a final score of 72-53

How they got here: Nigeria was able to qualify for the 2012 Olympics by going 3-2 this summer during the 2012 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament held in Caracas, Venezuela.  This is the first Olympics for the Nigeria men’s basketball team.

Team USA has never met Nigeria in basketball before but with the recent win over Tunisia, the United States is 10-0 against teams from the African continent.

Olympic Pool Play record: 75-2 (97.4%)
All-Time Olympic Record: 124-5 (96.1%)
All-Time National Team Record: 111-7

Does Nigeria scare the United States?

“Nigeria is very athletic and they have a lot of American players,” said head coach Mike Krzyzewski.  “In Al-Farouq Aminu they have a player that can get a double-double who is a NBA player; and his brother (Alade) is also really good inside and played at Georgia Tech.”

“For us it’s a matter of just continuing our preparation; making sure that we don’t take anything for grant and we come out and play hard and try to get minutes for everybody so we’re developing everybody as we go into the latter stages of pool play.”

In two Olympic games so far, former Kentucky Wildcats star Anthony Davis is averaging 7.5 PPG, 3.0 RPG

“It’s a big adjustment, because the game’s a lot faster, more physical,” Davis said about the difference between college and playing FIBA basketball.  “College there wasn’t the size there. You gotta try to get use to that. Hopefully it carries over into the NBA. The NBA’s not this physical. Hopefully I gained a lot of experience today.”

“It’s great,” Davis said of the experience.  “These guys are stars and it’s fun to be around them, learn from them. I pick up their habits.”