PARIS—After an 87-68 win over Germany, the United States again completed Olympic pool play undefeated heading into the Quarterfinals. Other winners on the night included Belgium, Nigeria, and Australia. They will relocate alongside Serbia and Spain to Paris, France, for the knockout stage. Puerto Rico, China, Japan, and Canada saw their Summer Games come to a close in Lille.
After the Australia vs France game, teams were assigned their place in the official #Paris2024 bracket. Although the sorting ceremony did feature clear bowls and basketball-shaped tins to draw the names, the fanfare was a bit anticlimactic, especially since Olympic rules state teams from the same preliminary pool may not meet in the Quarterfinals.
Nevertheless, the ceremony continued, and the results are as follows:
Unfortunately for Nigeria, they have drawn the United States in the quarterfinals. While I love how they play defense, I don't expect they will be able to force the United States into the same mistakes Australia made in Game 1 of pool play.
Nigeria has mostly capitalized on turnovers throughout the tournament, but their average of 69.3 points per game won't cut it against the U.S., who average a tournament-high 92 points per game.
However, head coach Cheryl Reeve is anticipating a tough matchup, especially from Nigerian guard Ezinne Kalu, averaging a fifth-best 19.3 points per game.
"Ezinne Kalu is just playing great, and she's the heart and soul of the team, and so that will be a challenge for us," Reeve told the media Tuesday afternoon at USA Basketball WNT practice. The USA head coach also said she expects to continue to rely on the depth of the team moving forward.
Jackie Young had a breakout performance for USA against France to secure their third and final win of pool play and Reeve said the Las Vegas Aces star was one of her players who has earned more minutes.
"Certainly Jackie was helpful at both ends of the floor, Reeve said Sunday night. "Jackie has earned the extension of minutes she got today ... we're gonna continue to tweak, tweak, tweak," Reeve added Sunday, alluding to rotation changes forthcoming for Team USA.
To hear more from Team USA practice Tuesday afternoon in Paris, subscribe to the Gold Medal Dispatch! All subscribers will have access to our private Paris 2024 Slack Channel which includes full audio from USA practices and the media mixed zone postgame.
For a full breakdown of the Women's Olympic Tournament, listen to a special Gold Medal Dispatch video podcast featuring Roberta Rodrigues.
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