(Updated: 6:15 am ET) Trey Thompkins's work with the U19 Team USA squad really looks promising so far. Against Greece on Monday, he scored 22 points on 10 of 14 shooting. And this morning eastern time, Trey again lead the US with 14 points and 9 rebounds in a big 82-61 victory over Puerto Rico.After five official games in New Zealand, Trey is the leading scorer for the Team USA squad. He's averaging 12.8 points in only 15.4 minutes while pulling down 5.6 rebounds per game. Through five games he only has one turnover. His minutes are down a bit because he got in foul trouble in Game 2, and Coach Dixon (Pitt) is giving everyone lots of minutes to keep the players fresh for the daily tourney grind.
More importantly, there's this quote:
“I decided today that I was going to be very, very aggressive. I heard that Greece liked to bump and bang, well I decided that I was going to be the guy that initiated it first and they were going to have to throw punches back,” said Thompkins.Oh...and this one...
"Well I’ll be honest with you. Coach Dixon and everyone ran us [into] the floor when we were in training. So we’re definitely ready for that second half of defense, and that was his most important objective, second half of defense. He wasn’t so much worried about our offense because we have a bunch of dynamic scorers, so he just banged on the second half of defense."If you asked those close to the basketball program what are the three biggest concerns about Trey, I'm pretty sure you'd hear conditioning, toughness and defense. It sounds like he's making big progress on all three fronts.
I know...I know...you're thinking...we're USA. We *should* be killing these other teams. True, but Team USA U19 hasn't won this event (which is held every four years) since 1991. In 2003, we didn't even medal.
With the win over Puerto Rico, the Team USA is assured of advancing to the quarter-finals, and they are guaranteed the top seed regardless of the outcome of their game tomorrow night vs Lithuania.
PWD
3 comments:
PS -- through 5 games, he's shooting 61.4% from the field and 76.9% from the line.
Incredibly encouraging.
Yes, if he comes into the fall in shape, Coach Fox could exceed expectations.
Do we have a shooting guard? No.
But, in Ware and HT3, we have, possibly, as good a 1-2 punch as anyone in the SEC.
I really think that this coaching staff will get so much more out of Barnes and Price, that we will be very good on the interior.
Maybe McPhee will help? We just need one good outside shooter who can hold his own on defense.
Actual optimism about the hoops season. Unbelieveable.
Amazing what a brotha can do when he has a coach.
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