FRISCO, Texas — LSU’s Glen Davis had eight points, two assists and three steals in 13 minutes as the US Under 21 Trials team of 16 players thoroughly handled a team from the Ukraine, 119-64, in the USA’s first game in the Global Games being played at the Dr. Pepper Center here Wednesday.
While it was the first game for the Americans, the Ukraine falls to 2-2 in the competition. The U21 team, which must be cut to 12 players by the end of this tournament, faces Slovenia Thursday night at 8 p.m.
Davis hit 2-of-5 field goal attempts in a starting role for the American squad, made all four of his free throw attempts and had one offensive rebound. Only four players on the squad played more time than Davis and no one played more than 16 minutes or less than 10 minutes. The U 21 team jumped out to a 30-11 first quarter lead and led 59-30 at the halftime intermission.
Postgame Quotes
Phil Martelli, Saint Joseph’s University
Were you pleased with the team’s effort this afternoon?
I was pleased with the attention to what we had covered for the last two days. I think that there were other indications of what else we have to work on. I thought our loose ball recovery could be better, our challenge on 3-point shots could be better and our communication must be better.
What was your game plan today?
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. 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.
With one week to go before the U21 World Championship starts, are you happy
with where you are now?
I think the march to the gold medal is a day to day process. This day was a good day. We made the necessary steps. Let’s see when we move the level of competition up. And let’s see what happens when we get to 12 players because that changes the dynamic of your team.