World University Games Wrap Part 1 -- The Players

Some Possession-Based Stats
I have been processing Team USA's boxscores throughout the tournament, but just got around to formatting the possession-based stats...

							FTA
	College	Min%	Poss%	Shot%	eFG%	PPWS.	FGA
Abromaitis	NDU	41.3	21.5	19.0	45.7	1.00	23.9
Denmon	Mizzou	43.5	23.5	20.0	45.1	1.02	39.2
Gibbs	Pitt	54.4	25.9	22.9	50.7	1.13	27.4
D Green	Mich St.	43.8	28.0	21.0	51.9	1.10	37.0
J Green	'Bama	39.7	32.7	23.6	70.9	1.42	65.5
Jardine	'Cuse	36.9	27.0	19.9	61.6	1.19	46.5
Jenkins	Vandy	50.0	28.1	29.0	55.3	1.18	17.6
Johnson	UCSB	48.8	20.8	15.7	48.9	1.10	37.8
Mangano	Yale	21.3	22.1	20.1	36.0	0.70	20.0
Mbakwe	Minn	49.1	28.3	16.0	60.9	1.24	132.6
McCallum	Detroit	25.0	20.2	19.8	53.4	1.15	17.2
Miller	Kentucky	46.3	17.6	12.5	54.4	1.13	38.2

The Min% suggest that Ashton Gibbs, John Jenkins, Trevor Mbakwe, Orlando Johnson and Darius Miller formed the nucleus of the squad. Those five started all but one of the tournament games -- not to mention the single exhibition game they played pre-tournament -- and Gibbs, Jenkins and Mbakwe got many of the touches (see Poss% above) when they were on the court. Coach Matt Painter employed something of a Bo Ryan platoon system with the result that none of the players logged more than 54% of the minutes at his position (Gibbs), and most logged between 39% and 49% of the available time. USA international teams, made up as they are of "all stars" invited to tryout and selected during the process, tend to use larger rotations (10, 11 sometimes more players -- see the distribution of Min%), but the academic teams these players are drawn from and the international teams they face rarely go beyond the first 7-9 players. Team USA's coaching staff played 11 of the 12 squad memebers in every game. The (single) player who did not appear in every game did log minutes in six of Team USA's eight tournament games, including the finale versus Germany (a tight three point win).

The team's offense went through (see Shot% above) Jenkins (no surprise), JayMychal Green, Gibbs (again no surprise) and Draymond Green, each of whom would be classified as a Significant or Major Contributor (in the Pomeroy classification system). It is notable that each not only took the shots when he was on the floor, but (check each player's eFG% and PPWS) each also shot efficiently (eFG% >50%) and used their opportunities to put points on the board (PPWS >1.00). Not every player had a terrific tournament offensively (see Rush the Court's "Notes on Player Performance" for names...), but the consolation is that those players had limited roles (<= 20% Shot%). If they weren't hitting, they stopped shooting. Overall Teams USA's offensive efficiency (game 6 versus Lithuania excepted) was outstanding, material for a part 2 post.

A look at the rebounding and several support stats (turnover rate, assist rate), affirms the notion that this WUG team was loaded with talent...

	Min%	OReb%	DReb%	TO%	Ast%
Abromaitis	41.3	9.2	16.0	12.2	0.9
Denmon	43.5	3.4	6.5	12.1	5.7
Gibbs	54.4	2.2	5.8	11.0	14.2
D Green	43.8	14.1	19.5	15.2	14.5
J Green	39.7	18.5	18.3	19.1	5.3
Jardine	36.9	4.0	7.7	21.7	11.5
Jenkins	50.0	2.3	6.9	4.4	7.0
Johnson	48.8	7.2	12.3	16.8	10.1
Mangano	21.3	6.2	14.5	9.9	1.7
Mbakwe	49.1	20.3	26.3	16.8	3.6
McCallum	25.0	2.6	4.7	6.1	9.9
Miller	46.3	7.0	12.3	22.8	5.3

Individual offensive rebounding rates for Mbakwe and the Greens, J. & D. in particular were Top 100 for Division 1. Mbakwe posted similarly dominant numbers on defensive boards as well. In all three players, the Greens and Tim Abormaitis posted "above average" defensive rebounding rates, while even several of the wings/guards (see Orlando Johnson, Darius Miller, Scoop Jardine and Jenkins) posted credible numbers under the opponent's boards. RTC may have been unhappy about assists, but consider that this team contended for a medal less than three weeks after their first tryout, it is difficult to see how the staff could have installed an overly involved offensive scheme.

Outstanding squad, outstanding offensive production...and a fifth place finish. What happened?

World University Games 2011 -- USA Beats Germany, Takes 5th Place

USA 86-83 Germany
Team USA earned it's sixth win of the World University Games tournament and secured fifth place with a three point win over Team Germany, 86-83 in Shenzhen University's Luohu Gym. A switch to Ashton Gibbs, John Jenkins, Orlando Johnson, Darius Miller and Trevor Mbakwe, the starting five used through much of the tournament, brought a slow start for the Americans. Though they built a four point lead (12-8) in the early moments of the first quarter, the Germans secured a narrow two point lead (21-19) by the end of the quarter, a lead they yielded -- temporarily -- six and a half minutes into the second quarter. Jenkins personal five point outburst gave the Americans a four point lead, but the Germans bounced back with a 7-2 run on field goals by guards Bastian Doreth (3 points) & Karsten Tadda (2 points) and forward Johannes Lischka (2 points) to take a one point lead, 41-40, into the intermission.

The lead see-sawed between the Germans and Americans until a Dray Green free throw put Team USA on top for good, 48-47 four and a half minutes into the third quarter. Though the margin varied from one to 12 points over the next 15 minutes, the Americans kept the Germans away and perserved an 86-83 score to secure fifth place. The score by quarters...

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Game
USA	19	21	24	22	86
Germany	21	20	20	22	83

German forward Johannes Simon Lischka scored a game-high 28 points on 11-20 (2-4, 9-16) shooting from the court and 4-7 from the line. The German back court trio of Doreth (12 points), Tadda (10 points) and Nicolai Simon (10 points) chipped in double digit points. Trevor Mbakwe's 21 points on 7-9 (0-0, 7-9) shooting from the field and 7-9 shooting from the line, paced the Americans. Jenkins (15 points), JayMychal Green (12 points) and Gibbs (11 points) all supported Mbakwe with 10 or more points. Mbakwe posted a game-high eight rebounds even as the Greens, J & D supported with six rebounds apiece. German forward Andreas Seiferth notched six rebounds to lead the German team.

The possession-based breakdown suggests this was hardly a defensive struggle...

						FTA
Team	Pace	Eff.	eFG%	TOV	OR%	FGA	Ast%	PPWS
Team USA	77.3	1.11	52.3	22.0	41.0	42.2	43.3	1.12
Team Germany		1.07	54.5	20.7	25.0	48.2	55.6	1.21

The offensive efficiency numbers, eFG%, turnover rate, and free throw rate (FTA/FGA) are all very close, but Germany "won" every one of those battles. The difference was rebounding. The Americans' offensive rebounding rate (41.0%) was decidedly better than the Germans (25.0%), and yielded Team USA with eight more (64 vs 58) field goal attempts. The additional field goal attempts gave the Americans three more made field goals than the Germans (the Germans got some -- but not all -- of those points back at the line).

Additional Reading
USA Basketball posted a game recap on their website, along with a box score and post game quotes.

World University Games 2011 -- USA Defeats Romania, Plays Germany for 5th Place

USA 94-73 Romania
A change in the starting five brought a change of fortunes at Shenzhen University Sunday as Team USA posted a 21 point win over fellow quarter final loser Team Romania, and advanced to a showdown with Team Germany for fifth place at the World University Games. Coach Matt Painter turned to Scoop Jardine and Marcus Denmon to man the back court. In the front court Painter decided to go with a three forward set that included Notre Dame's Tim Abromaitis, Draymond Green and JayMychal Green. The change paid dividends as the Americans jumped out to a 12-2 edge in the game's first five minutes. Though the Romanians staged a mini-rally to cut the USA lead to eight by the end of the quarter (20-12), the Americans never looked back, stretching the lead to 18, 47-29, by intermission. The Romanians conceded only three more points to the Americans through the second half, one in the third quarter to yield a 74-55 score, and two more in the fourth quarter, bringing the final tally to 94-73. The score by quarters...

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Game
USA	20	27	27	20	94
Romania	12	17	26	18	73

Romanian forward Titus Nicoara paced all scorers with 9-18 (2-4, 7-14) from the court and 2-2 from the line. He recorded a double-double with 10 rebounds (2-8-10) to go with his 22 points. Power forward Vlad Sorin Moldoveanu also logged a double-double, scoring 13 and grabbing 11 rebounds, while guard Rares Andrei Mandache chipped in 18 points. The American had four double digit scorers, paced by Draymond Green's 16 points on 7-10 (2-3, 5-7) shooting from the field. John Jenkins (12 points), JayMychal Green (11 points) and Tim Abromaitis (11 points) also posted more than 10 points. Tevor Mbakwe, J. Green and Abromaitis posted team-high eight rebounds apiece.

The possession-based breakdown suggests things are returning to "normal" for Team USA...

						FTA
Team	Pace	Eff.	eFG%	TOV	OR%	FGA	Ast%	PPWS
Team USA	81.4	1.16	52.0	19.7	46.2	25.3	29.7	1.12
Team Romania		0.90	47.1	25.8	35.9	17.6	34.5	0.99

The numbers fall back into the pattern Team USA set in games #1 through #5 -- pace in the low 80s, shooting efficiency in the mid-high 50's, offensive rebounding rate in the high 30's/low 40's, etc. The Romanians offered little defensive resistence, allowing the Americans to post an offensive efficiency above 1.10 points per possesion (ppp), with shooting leading the way, as the PPWS, back above 1.10 where it was for tournament games #1 through #5. Defensively, the Americans held Team Romania to a 0.90 ppp, largely because the Romanians did not shoot efficiently (see their eFG%, 47.1), taking 75% of their FGAs as two point attempts, the Romanians converted at a 45.1% rate. Combining high turnover rates (in Romania's case they lost 25.8% of their possessions, over 1-in-4) which limit scoring opportunities with a poor shot conversion rate doomed the Romanians.

Next
Team USA will face Team Germany, which lost to Serbia, 55-77, in the quarter final round and beat (Group D #2 seed) Finland, 84-63, Sunday, for fifth place in the tournament. The game will be played at 7:00 am (Eastern DST) in Shenzhen University's Luohu Gym on Monday (local day/time). The Americans and Germans share a common opponent -- Finland. The Germans beat the Finns by 21 on Sunday (local day); the Americans beat the Finns by 60 (no, not a typo), 124-64, in their fourth tournament game.

Further Reading
USA Basketball posted a game recap on their website, along with a box score and post game quotes.

World University Games 2011 -- USA Falls to Lithuania, Plays for 5th Place

USA 74-76 Lithuania
For the second time in less than two months a Lithuanian team eliminated an American team from medal consideration in an international tournament, as the Americans dropped a two point decision, 74-76, to that Baltic Republic in the World University Games held at Shenzhen University earlier today. Team USA took a 2-0 lead on an Ashton Gibbs jumper and remained on top through the first quarter. With Team USA nursing a 15-12 lead in the second quarter, the Lithuanians tied it up at 22 near the quarter's midpoint, but the Americans stretched it back out to five at the intermission, 42-37, on the strength of a 9-5 run in the last 1:49 of the period. Vanderbilt's John Jenkins went 3-3 from beyond the arc to provide all nine of Team USA's points in the last two minutes, salvaging what had been to that point a dismal 1-5 efficiency on three point attempts in the quarter.

The Lithuanians used the intermission to regroup, and came out swinging with a 7-0 run to open the third quarter, taking the lead, 44-42, for the first time in the game. Pressured for the first time in the tournament, the Americans dropped the third quarter by a 28-19 margin, shooting blanks from three point land (0-5), an uncharacteristicly anemic 4-8 from inside the arc and committing three turnovers. An 11-16 performance from the charity striped, coupled with six offensive rebounds kept Team USA in the game. Down by four going into the last quarter, Coach Painter's squad managed to tie once, at 74, in the last 1:55, but a foul by Draymond Green on guard Mantas Kadzevicius put the Lithuanians up by two, 76-74, in what became the final score. Five attempted field goals by the American squad (three 3FGAs & two @FGAs) in the last 1:25 failed to drop, sending Team USA to the Classification round to fight for fifth place. The score by quarters...

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Game
USA	15	27	19	13	74
Lithuania	12	25	28	11	76

Lithuanian wing Gediminas Orelik recorded a game-high 19 points on 6-10 (5-8, 1-2) shooting from the floor and 2-4 from the line. Three other Lithuanians, Marius Valukonis (11 points), Edgaras Stanionis (10 points) and Gediminas Zyle (10 points) scored double digit points.

Team USA was paced by John Jenkins' 17 points on 5-10 (4-9, 1-1) from the field and 3-3 from the line. Ashton Gibbs and JayMychal Green chipped in 16 points and 12 points respectively. Trevor Mbakwe led all rebounders with (4-6-10) 10, while Kadzevicius and Orelik paced the Lithuanians with six apiece.

The possession-based breakdown suggests this was a defensive struggle...

						FTA
Team	Pace	Eff.	eFG%	TOV	OR%	FGA	Ast%	PPWS
Team USA	87.9	0.84	38.1	26.2	26.7	46.3	47.8	0.91
Team Lithuania		0.87	54.2	27.3	35.6	35.6	67.9	1.10

The high pace could be attributed to the number of turnovers committed by both teams. Uncharacteristically, the USA team was, third quarter aside, unable to rebound their misses effectively (26.7%), which, combined with an out-of-character 30 three point attempts (44.8% of their FGAs; the USA averaged 19.4 3FGAs in their five previous tournament games), worked to diminish their eFG% to 38.1%, well below their tournament eFG% of 59.4% going into today's game.

Next
With the loss, Team USA will face Team Romania, the #2 seed out of Group A, who lost to Team Canada in quarter final play. The game will be played at 8:30 am (Eastern DST) in Shenzhen University's Luohu Gym.

Further Reading
USA Basketball posted a game recap on their website, along with a box score and post game quotes.

World University Games Preview -- USA & Lithuania

How They Got Here
With the end of group play yesterday the field reseeds for the next round of matches. The original 24 teams (23 actually arrived in Shenzhen to play) were divided into four groups of six teams and scheduled for a five game round robin with the other teams in their group. The two teams that finished with the worst records were supposed to play two classification round games to determine ranks #17 through #24, while the two teams that finished in the #3 & #4 positions play a two classification round games to determine ranks #9 through #16. Each groups #1 and #2 ranked teams will play three matches to determine the #1 through #8 order of finish.

Team USA swept their competition in Group D, going 5-0 for the first prelimnary round and taking the #1 seed. Team Lithuania was assigned to Group C, along with teams from Russia, Ukraine, Japan, New Zealand and the Philipines. The Lithuanians finished #2 with a record of 4-1, their only loss to Team Russia.

By the Numbers, Offense & Defense...
...Team Lithuania has averaged 79.7 possessions through five tournament games, about three possessions lower than the Americans (82.6), so this should not be a tug-of-war over pace. Though the sample is very small, the offensive and defensive efficiencies, along with the possession-based stats may be worth a look...

	Teams
Efficiency	Lith.	USA
Offense	1.07	1.33
Defense	0.91	0.87
Difference	+0.16	+0.46

Given the lack of crossover games to tie the field together, the differences can be deceptive. The efficiency margins however (when combined with four factors below) suggest that favoring the Americans in this game is probably justified. While Lithuania dropped their Group C final game against Russia (62-77), Team USA's closest Group D game was versus Israel (94-84). Russia finished Group C with the #1 seed, while Israel's 2-3 record sent that team to the #9-#16 classifications. The Lithuanians rely on two point field goals for their offense. About 67% of their FGAs are two's, and they count on two's for 60% of their points, the balance coming from three's (23%) or at the line (16%). Why the emphasis on two point FGAs? Maybe because they have problems converting three's. The Lithuanians have averaged a 30.2% conversion rate for three point attempts -- had they taken those points as two's, they would have had to hit at a 45.1% rate, well below their 58.2% conversion rate for two's. They did not take three's because they converted at a more efficient rate with two's.

A "Four Factors" comparison when Team Lithuania has the ball...

When Lithuania has the ball...
				FTA
	eFG%	TO%	OR%	FGA
Lithuanian O	54.1	20.5	38.7	33.4
American D	42.9	21.4	31.8	30.4

The key for Team Lithuania is efficient scoring by 6-6 wing Marius Valunkonis from Vytautas Magnus University and 6-10 Gediminus Zyle, a Euro-style forward out of Mykolas Romeris University. The two typically account for about 50+% of the shots when they are on the floor together. Should one or the other hit a dry spell, the Lithuanians need for a second group, generally headed by 6-7 forward/wing Gediminus Orelik (Kaunas University of Technology...Kaunas Tech?) and/or guard Ernestas Ezerskas (a teammate of Valunkonis at Vytautas Magnus University) to step in and fill the void. The Lithuanians have been a bit lax with the ball (see turnover rate), but give themselves a second chance on missed shots with strong offensive rebounding. Given the Americans have been strong on shutting down second chance opportunities, the battle under the Lithuanian's basket should become a strengh-on-strength matchup. The Americans have been strong at challenging for the ball (see their defensive turnover rate above); the two are fairly evenly matched on turnovers, so expect the Lithuanians to lose about one-in-five possessions; more than that and their offensive efficiency could be seriously diminshed; less than that, and the Americans could be in trouble defensively. The "Four Factors" look at Team USA's offense versus Lithuania's defense:

When the Americans have the ball...
				FTA
	eFG%	TO%	OR%	FGA
USA O	59.4	15.3	53.0	40.5
Lithuanian D	45.0	20.6	26.1	31.7

Though JayMychal Green has paced the team in the past two games, scoring opportunities have been nicely distributed throughout the rotation, with Ashton Gibbs, John Jenkins and Scoop Jardine all knocking down game-high numbers at least once in the tournament and exhibition games. All four, plus Trevor Mbakwe have scored more than 10 points in more than one game. A lot of shooter/scorers to cover and shut down. Like the Lithuanians, the Americans look inside the three point line for their scoring, taking 71.4% of their field goal attempts as two's. Unlike the Lithuanians however, the American squad has converted 41.2% of their attempts, comparable to a 61.8% two point conversion rate. The Americans can look to Jenkins (principally), Gibbs, Draymond Green and Darius Miller for efficient conversion of the attempt. They have been good enough at the two point attempt (54.5% conversion rate) to open up the outside for opportunities.

Finally...
...Assuming a pace for the game of about 80 possessions, the Americans (based on efficiency margins, see above) should win by double digits -- about 15 or so. There are, for Team USA a couple of wrinkles...

1. Team USA has yet to play a competitive, 40 minute game. Several Group D teams (Mexico, South Korea) were able to hang with Team USA for a quarter, sometimes a bit more. The Israelis led after a quarter, and were competitive to another quarter and a half (about 15 minutes, 25 minutes total). The lack of competition had Coach Matt Painter experiment with a different starting five and mix the rotation a bit, neither of which are particularly good when trying to develop game-to-game consistency.
2. The stakes grow immensely in the medal round(s). A single loss in the preliminary round will (almost...) never send a team to the Classification rounds, while a loss in the medal rounds will consign a team immediately to the classifications. Badly timed losses have historically plagued American squads in international tournaments. The quarter final round in particular is a trap game for USA teams. Whether the breakdown is lack of preparation from the staff or lack of understanding by the squad members is not clear, but American squads have a habit of finishing fifth in FIBA and FISU competition with a single loss.

This particular squad may dodge that bullet, as Gibbs, Denmon and JayMychal Green have played on international teams (in similar tournaments) during their college careers. Those three should understand the transition that takes place as the tournament shifts from the preliminary round ("group play") format to the type of single round elimination format used in the medal rounds.

World University Games 2011 -- USA Over Israel, Undefeated in Group D Play

USA 94-84 Israel
Team USA ended their Group D competition by defeating Israel 94-84, finishing with a 5-0 record. Team Israel gave Team USA it's best competition to date, outpointing the American by six in their second quarter -- the first quarter lost by Team USA in the competition -- taking a two point, 43-41 lead into half-time. Coach Matt Painter's squad responded with an explosive third quarter, outscoring the Israelis by 10, 29-19, to take an eight point lead, 70-62, into the last quarter. They added another two points to the margin to secure their sixth consecutive double-digit winning margin in the WUG Tournament.

Tied six times in the second and (first five minutes of...) the third quarter, the teams were not separated by more than four points through that 15 minute stretch. Team USA broke on top with an 8-2 run in the last 2:30 of the third quarter, fueled by buckets and free throws contributed by JayMychal Green (a field goal and two free throws), Marcus Denmon (a layup) and Tim Abromaitis (a layup). A Darius Miller jumper 15 seconds into the fourth quarter pushed the USA lead out to 10, and the Americans were not seriously challenged again. The score by quarters...

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Game
USA	27	14	29	24	94
Israel	23	20	19	22	84

Israeli forward Anton Shoutvin logged a game-high 20 points on 7-13 (0-1, 7-12) shooting from the floor and 6-9 from the line. For the second consecutive game Alabama's rising senior J Green led Team USA scorers with 16 points on 5-9 (0-0, 5-9) from the field and 6-9 from the line. Trevor Mbakwe recorded a double-double, scoring 12 points to go with a game-high 13 (5-8-13) rebounds. Two other squad members Denmon (13 points) and John Jenkins (12 points), scored more than 10 points. JayMychal Green collected seven carooms. The Israelis' Shoutvin grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.

The possession-based breakdown...

						FTA
Team	Pace	Eff.	eFG%	TOV	OR%	FGA	Ast%	PPWS
Team USA	81.6	1.13	55.6	19.6	44.2	35.2	22.2	1.13
Team Israel		1.03	51.7	24.5	29.7	46.7	37.9	1.15

Unlike the first five games (and a predictor of the games to come?) the USA coaching staff used 11 of the 12 players available, even as the playing time was the least evenly distributed of any prior game. The starters, Scoop Jardine, Jenkins, Orlando Johnson, Miller and Mbakwe played for a combined 49% of the available playing time, with four of the starters averaging 20.8 minutes.

Next
With the #1 seed in Group D, Team USA will meet #2 seed Lithuania from Group C in the quarter final rounds on Saturday at 3:30 am (Eastern DST) in Shenzhen University Main Gym.

Further Reading
USA Basketball posted a game recap on their website, along with a box score and post game quotes.

World University Games 2011 -- USA Overwhelms Finland

USA 124 Finland 64
Team USA secured the #1 seed coming out of Group D play as part of their continued domination of play in their pool. In the Shenzhen University Gym today they came within four points of doubling up Team Finland, 124-64. As Ray McCallum put it, "Before the game in film today, (Butler) coach (Brad) Stevens really stressed coming out strong from the get-go, being focused and playing hard. I thought that was what we did, and our walk-through this morning carried over to the game today...", as their 12 point lead (31-19) in the first quarter attested. The consistency and momentum continued into the second quarter, as Team USA padded their lead with another 13 points (32-19), taking a large 25 point half-time lead (63-38) into the intermission. Coach Matt Painter continued to employ a large rotation, using all 12 members of the squad with a relatively even distribution of playing time. No player drew more than 47.5% of the playing time (about 19 minutes) at his position, and fully eight players logged at least 40% of the playing time (at least 16 minutes) over the course of the game. Reeling from their 25 point first half deficit, the Finns sa the Americans nearly double their scoring margin by adding another 24 points to their lead with a 37-13 third quarter, pushing the score to 100-51. Team USA took their foot off the pedal in the fourth quarter and cruised home to a 124-64 win, a stunning 60 point margin of victory. With the game well in hand, USA Coach Matt Painter (Purdue) decided to experiment, "...We mixed up the line up a little bit tonight and swaped (sic) our point guards, Scoop (Jardine) and Ashton (Gibbs), just to get a different look and see how our guys would respond to it, and both groups played well..." The game starters, (Tim Abromaitis, the Greens -- Draymond & JayMychal -- Denmon and Gibbs) combined for 44% of the playing time, another indication of the large early scoring margin. The score by quarters...

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Game
USA	31	32	37	24	124
Finland	19	19	13	13	64

JayMychal Green paced all scorers with 21 points (in 15 minutes of play) on 6-7 (1-1, 5-6) from the field and 8-10 from the line. Four other Team USA squad members Trevor Mbakwe (14 points in 16 minutes), Ashton Gibbs (13 points in 18 minutes), John Jenkins (12 points in 16 minutes) and Marcus Denmon (10 points in 18 minutes) scored more than 10 points. Draymond Green gathered nine (5-4-9) rebounds as three other Americans (JayMychal Green, Mbakwe and Darius Miller) collected six apiece. Anti Kanervo paced the Finns with a 20 point performance on 8-13 (1-4, 7-9) from the field and 3-4 from the line. Roope Ahonen scored 10 points while two members of the Team Finland squad, Petri Heinonen and Carl Lindbom grabbed team-high four rebounds apiece.

The possession-based breakdown...

						FTA
Team	Pace	Eff.	eFG%	TOV	OR%	FGA	Ast%	PPWS
Team USA	82.6	1.50	63.3	14.5	62.9	54.7	48.8	1.31
Team Finland		0.77	41.4	24.2	35.9	14.3	38.5	0.86

Team USA logged their fourth consecutive game of < 80 possessions with an offensive efficiency of more than 1.13. In three of those games Team USA logged an offensive efficiency (points per possession scored) of 1.31, an impressive level of scoring efficiency powered by shot conversion efficiency (eFG% -- note their 60% rate versus Finland), offensive rebounding rate (50% or better in three of their four WUG matches) and ability to get to the line (see FTA/FGA above -- 54.7%) as a percentage of their field goal attempts. If Team USA misses their field goal attempts, odds are excellent (about 1-in-2) they will rebound the miss and/or get to the line (again, about 1-in-2). On the defensive side Team USA has successfully limited their opponents to an eFG% of <45%, forced turnovers at a close-to 25% rate in three of four games and kept their opponents from balancing the scoring deficit with trips to the line. The American squad is one of four among the 24 team field that remains undefeated.

Next
Team USA has secured a #1 seed going into the quarter final rounds, but still must face Team Israel on Thursday before taking on either Team Russia or Team Lithuania (for those following the U19 World Championships last month, sound familiar?) on Saturday. The USA faces off against Israel Thursday morning at 3:20 am Eastern Daylight Savings time in Shenzhen University Main Gym.

Further Reading
USA Basketball posted a game recap on their website, along with a box score and post game quotes.

World University Games 2011 -- USA Routs South Korea

USA 112 South Korea 68
Continuing their domination of Group D play, Team USA secured their third consecutive +30 point win over a Group D opponent Monday as they defeated South Korea 112-68 in the University of Shenzhen's Main Gym. In the most competitive first quarter so far, Team South Korea trailed by five, 24-19. As a hint of the coming board domination, Kentucky's Darius Miller took a shot inside the first 17 seconds of play and retrieved his own miss. His second attempt missed but Minnesota's Trevor Mbakwe grabbed the miss and was fouled. The Americans stretched their lead out to double digits on the strength of a 10-3 run to open the second quarter. Pittsburgh's Ashton Gibbs contributed two defensive rebounds and four points on two field goal conversions. Greg Mangano, Yale University's contribution to the USA front court added four points of his own on 2-3 shooting in the paint and two boards, one on defense and the other, on offense, which led to his put-back. The Americans withstood a 15-12 South Korea run, and used the last 1:32 of the first half to stage a 4-0 run of their own on a pair of two pointers to push their lead back out to 13, 55-42.

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Game
USA	24	31	26	31	112
South Korea	19	23	12	14	68

Pushing the lead out to 20, 68-48, in the first five minutes of the third quarter, Team USA broke the game open with a 13-6 run (81-54) to close out the third quarter. The Greens, Alabama's JayMychal Green and Michigan State's Draymond Green, were especially active, grabbing six rebounds (JayMychal -- 2, Draymond -- 4) and scoring 10 points (JayMychal -- 4, Draymond -- 6). Two made threes aside (Gibbs & Scoop Jardine) Team USA took two point attempts as they shifted back to inside and pushed their lead out to the final stretch (44 points).

The possession-based breakdown...

						FTA
Team	Pace	Eff.	eFG%	TOV	OR%	FGA	Ast%	PPWS
Team USA	82.1	1.36	59.1	12.2	56.1	31.7	31.1	1.19
South Korea		0.83	35.5	15.8	30.9	30.3	33.3	0.78

JayMychal Green scored a game-high 17 points on 7-10 (0-0, 7-10) shooting from the field and 3-5 from the line. Five other Americans, Jardine (16 points), Gibbs (14 points), Mbakwe (14 points), John Jenkins (12 points) and D. Green (12 points) all recorded double digit points. D. Green led all rebounders with 12 (6-6-12) caroms, recording a double-double in the process. Mbakwe's 11 rebounds also earned the forward from Minnesota a double-double. Mingoo Kim paced the South Koreans in both points scored (12) and rebounds (8).
Next
Team USA take Tuesday off and swings back into action Wednesday when they play Team Finland at 6:00 am Eastern time.

Further Reading
USA Basketball posted a game recap on their website.
The World University Games host posted the box score, along with the shot chart and play-by-play from the Shenzhen University website.

World University Games 2011 -- New Century Exhibition Game

USA 88 New Century 61
Near the end of a tug-of-war first quarter that saw each team grab leads complements of runs, New Century engineered a 13-0 run that secured the lead as the time wound down. Team USA was on the short end of a 23-17 score. Vanderbilt's rising senior guard John Jenkins hit three treys that fueled a 14-0 Team USA run which put the USA on top with a stunning 22-7 second quarter. The Americans took a 39-30 lead into the intermission and never looked back. "I think more or less, it was about not getting discouraged. We went through a couple of stretches in the first half when we shot poorly. John (Jenkins) got going in the first half to push the lead to nine at the half. We just tried to be positive with our guys, and it wasn't as much about adjustments. We stayed positive and stayed with it..." offered Coach Matt Painter, when asked about half-time adjustments.

Jenkins logged a game-high 24 points on a scintillating 8-12 (8-10, 0-2) effort from the court, yielding an eye-popping 100.0 eFG%. Jenkins was the only American to post double-digit points, though three teammates, UC Santa Barbara's Orlando Johnson, Yale's forward Greg Mangano and Minnesota's Trevor Mbakwe recorded nine points apiece. Horace Wormely (Vanguard University in the NAIA) paced New Century with 13 points. Two other New Century players, Qui Biao and Gavin Edwards (Connecticut) notched 10 points apiece. Kentucky wing Darius Miller grabbed a game-high eight rebounds. The possession-based breakdown...

						FTA
Team	Pace	Eff.	eFG%	TOV	OR%	FGA	Ast%	PPWS
Team USA	73.2	1.20	54.7	15.0	40.0	33.8	56.7	1.11
New Century		0.83	37.3	16.4	24.4	40.7	25.0	0.87

73 possessions is towards the high-end for a Division 1 program, but a little low for a professional (NBA-level) team, but the stat that jumps out is the defense. Team USA held New Century to a paltry 0.87 points per possession (ppp) through a combination of strong shot defense (New Century converted 20-59 from the field, hitting 4-21 from three point range), turnovers (New Century committed 12 turnovers, losing 16.4% of their possessions and defensive board domination, limiting New Century to nabbing 24.4% of their missed field goal attempts. New Century could not convert from the field, and when they missed they did not get a second chance. The score by quarters...

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Game
Team USA	17	22	23	26	88
New Century	23	7	12	19	61

"...We simply wore them down..." -- Matt Painter
Though Scoop Jardine, Marcus Denmon, Draymond Green, JaMychal Green and Tim Abromaitis started for Team USA they only combined for 40.5% of the playing time. Coach Painter used all 12 members of the squad, allocating exactly 17 minutes (Abromaitis excepted) to every player in the rotation. Or to put Jenkins' production into context, the Vanderbilt forward scored 24 points in 17 minutes of play. "...We have a lot of guys, and we tried to stay fresh..." -- Matt Painter.

Other observations about the game....
1. Jenkins took a Jordan-like 41.5% of the shots while he was in the game. Denmon, a 6-2 guard out of Missouri was the second option on offense, unfortunately he was less effective, scoring three points on 1-8 (1-4, 0-4) shooting from the field. The trio composed of guards Ashton Gibbs and Orlando Johnson and forward Greg Mangano formed an more effective "third option" on offense, taking 20.8% of the shots when they were playing. Johnson and Mangano scored nine points apiece while Gibbs scored six points on 3-6 (0-1, 3-5) shooting.
2. Kentucky guard Darius Miller scored seven points on 2-4 (0-2, 2-2) shooting from the field and 3-6 from the line, which translates into a 50.0% eFG% and 1.02 points per weighted shot (PPWS).
3. Team USA owned the glass, outrebounding New Century 47-34. They grabbed 40.0% of their misses, and 75.6% of New Century's misses. Mbakwe led the way with a 23.5% rebounding rate on the offensive boards. Johnson (17.6%) and
4. The NBA lockout has benefited a number of foreign professional leagues, as NBA professionals look to overseas play (and contracts) to pay the bills until the league and player's union hammer out an agreement. New Century is a franchise in the CBA League, one of two professional leagues operating in Mainland China, and they appear to have three Americans under contract (or at least on their roster) for the exhibition game. Gavin Edwards, a 2010 graduate of UConn who spent part of last season in the NBDL's Springfield franchise (along with Villanova's Scottie Reynolds), along with Horace Wormley, a 5-7 point guard, who logged time with LA D-Fenders after a stint with Landshut in the German League. A 2011 Montana State graduate, 6-6 forward Danny Piepoli, apparently signed on with New Century in the last two months.

Next
Team USA returns to Shenzhen for the Opening Ceremonies of the World University Games. They meet Mexico 6:00 am (Eastern Time) on Saturday.

Further Reading
USA Basketball posted a game recap on their website.
They also posted the official box score.

U18 Tournament of the Americas -- Some Possession-Based Thoughts

The last few statistics from the U18 tournament. I wanted to take a look at the members of the Team USA squad to see how each did. In truth I was most curious about the Villanova recruits and other squad members headed to Big East schools in the years to come. I have borrowed Ken Pomeroy's format for presenting individual player stats (available on any D1 Scouting Report Page, Villanova's for example, so for those unfamiliar with the format, scroll to page listed to get a sense of the stats and layout. Players are listed last name first (that's how I found them on the FIBA Basketball site box score(s), from most often played (by percentage of available playing time) to least often played...

Player	Min%	Poss%	Shot%	ORtg	eFG%	PPWS
Walker Kemba	71.5	22.2	22.3	115.2	52.8	1.10
Releford Travis	53.6	11.5	12.0	144.4	51.6	1.03
Kelly Ryan	50.6	25.7	25.6	76.3	36.2	0.81
Lee Malcolm	50.6	22.0	22.0	117.9	53.4	1.12
Wear Travis	43.9	18.9	19.0	122.0	50.0	1.05
Green JayMychal	42.4	21.0	21.0	138.4	72.4	1.48
Wayns Maalik	40.3	20.4	20.4	100.7	44.8	0.96
McDonald Leslie	36.8	13.6	13.8	100.0	32.0	0.75
Cheek Dominic	31.7	19.6	19.4	97.3	42.6	0.87
Plumlee Mason	31.2	20.3	20.1	99.6	40.0	0.99
Humphrey Matt	28.6	25.9	25.4	86.1	37.5	0.78
Wear David	18.9	18.3	17.7	130.4	64.3	1.27

I have highlighted the Big East recruits (and targets) in yellow. Kemba Walker earned his MVP trophy (as the data suggests). The staff (Davidson's Bob McKillop, Georgetown's JT3 and VCU's Greg Anthony) thought enough of him to play him nearly 3/4 of the available time, using him nearly 36 minutes per game in the 2 medal round games. Walker's numbers were not the most efficient on the squad, but given the amount of attention he drew, they were very good. Villanova's own Maalik Wayns had a pretty good tournament too. Wayns, the youngest member of the squad, performed well for his first time abroad. Wayns pulled 40% of the time at the #1, functioned as a second/third option on offense. While I would have liked to see better scoring numbers (eFG% and PPWS), he will learn from the experience. Dom Cheek out of St. Anthony's in Jersey City saw less floor time than I thought he would. Rumors of a ding persisted through the medal rounds, but Cheek did see 18 minutes in the loss to Argentina. The rebounding and free throw rate stats:

Player	OR%	DR%	FTRate	ARate	TORate
Walker Kemba	3.0	10.6	27.8	37.7	24.1
Releford Travis	2.4	6.3	18.8	30.9	11.6
Kelly Ryan	11.8	19.2	27.7	7.3	22.0
Lee Malcolm	5.9	9.2	25.0	17.2	17.2
Wear Travis	13.6	12.5	65.6	11.5	11.5
Green JayMychal	19.2	22.9	58.6	5.4	13.4
Wayns Maalik	4.2	9.4	17.2	37.7	34.8
McDonald Leslie	2.3	5.7	24.0	14.3	19.1
Cheek Dominic	6.7	9.3	22.2	11.6	11.6
Plumlee Mason	12.3	28.4	55.0	22.7	26.5
Humphrey Matt	13.4	14.8	25.0	9.7	9.7
Wear David	11.3	17.9	14.3	20.8	20.8

Looking at Ryan Kelly's offensive numbers I was not sure why he drew so many minutes (in fairness a number of players struggled offensively). Then I saw his rebounding numbers. Definitely good enough to keep him in the game. I was just a little surprised that he had the ball so much given his eFG% was so low (36.2). The entire field (except host Argentina) had difficulty hitting the 3 point shot consistently -- as the table below shows...

Team	3FG %	2FG %	AFG %
Argentina (A)	39.4	50.2	46.9
Canada (A)	31.8	46.8	42.8
Puerto Rico (B)	29.5	41.0	37.0
Mexico (A)	28.4	40.5	34.9
Venezuela (B)	27.5	50.9	43.9
USA (B)	25.5	50.9	44.7
Bahamas (B)	25.0	34.9	31.9
Uruguay (A)	25.0	38.7	35.3

Team USA adjusted accordingly by pushing the ball inside to try to score more consistently from the lane. Given the number of D1 players (most teams appear to have had at least one present or future D1 player) the general ineffectiveness at 20-6 may foretell next season. The assist rates posted by both Walker and Wayns was very encouraging for both. But Team USA did not stay with it through the medal round games. The assist percentage (number of made field goals that were assisted...) dropped from the high 40's through high 50's down to the high 30's. JayMychal Green is another player who, according to the numbers, really stood out.