After nearly a full week of action at Stade Pierre-Mauroy, it's time to get down to brass tacks. The men's competition wrapped up group play on Saturday, highlighted by the U.S. men looking to polish off a perfect run through Group C against Puerto Rico. The women, meanwhile, began their final group-play round, with undefeated Serbia and China facing off atop Group A. Here's a recap of how all the action unfolded.
Men's Group C: Serbia 96, South Sudan 85
Serbia (2-1) held off a resilient South Sudan (1-2) 96-85 in a win-and-you're-in group stager, the last of 18 prior to Tuesday's knockout round start. Atlanta Hawks guard Bogdan Bogdanovic put up 30 points and three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic added 22 as the Serbs pulled away late.
The first quarter saw seven lead changes, highlighted by a behind-the-back dish from Jokic and a five-point swing block and triple from the Bright Stars' Wenyen Gabriel. Serbia stretched its lead to nine in the second, but Carlik Jones' 10 points and his team's hot shooting from beyond the arc kept it to within three at the half, 47-44.
Gabriel added two more big plays in the second half with a put-back slam in the third to draw his team within one, and an alley-oop in the fourth to raise the roof on an 8-0 run. Bogdanovic began his takeover in the third, and Serbia strengthened its lead to 17 in the fourth as South Sudan went scoreless for nearly five minutes. Jones finished with 17 and played all 40 minutes.
South Sudan, which does not have an indoor basketball court in its entire country, falls short of moving on to the knockout round but walks away from its tournament debut with a bright future.
Women's Group A: Spain 80, Serbia 72
After two nail-biters to open group play, Spain left no doubt in its Group A finale, leading just about wire-to-wire in an impressive win over previously undefeated Serbia that wasn't as close as the final score suggests.
Maria Conde put up 15 points on 7-of-12 shots for the Spaniards, who stretched their lead to as many as 23 points in the second half. Serbia mounted a 21-5 run in the fourth quarter, a three-point play from Yvonne Anderson trimming the deficit to just 68-62 with under a minute to play. But Spain scored on the next possession to salt things away and put itself in great position to secure one of the top two overall positions (and potentially wind up on the other side of the quarterfinal bracket from the U.S.).
A Serbia offense that had carved through China and Puerto Rico struggled mightily for most of the day, shooting just 36% from the field and just 3-of-15 from deep — numbers that were even worse before that late spurt.
Women's Group A: China 80, Puerto Rico 58
Both teams entered this one 0-2, knowing that a loss would mean elimination. China not only kept its hopes of advancing to the knockout stage alive, but got a huge boost with a smothering 80-58 win over Puerto Rico that leaves the Asia nation in third place in Group A — and with a point differential (-1) currently better than other potential third-place competition like Nigeria, Australia, Canada and Belgium.
Puerto Rico made the first basket of the game to take a 3-0 lead, but it would trail for the rest of the day as China won each quarter by at least five points. Li Yueru poured in 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting and added seven rebounds to lead a balanced Chinese attack that featured five different players in double-figures. But it was China's defense that really made the difference, holding Puerto Rico below 40% from the field and holding stars Mya Hollingshed and Isalys Quinyones to a combined 8-for-37.
The loss eliminates Puerto Rico from contention at 0-3. China, meanwhile, will have to wait for the results of Saturday and Sunday's remaining group-stage games to see where it stacks up among the other third-place squads. (As a reminder, the top two third-place teams join the six first- and second-place teams in the quarterfinals.)
Men's Group C: U.S. 104, Puerto Rico 83
The U.S. polished off a perfect group stage in high style, putting the game away with an 18-4 run to close the second quarter after a somewhat sluggish start. Anthony Edwards led all scorers with 26 points, as Team USA now awaits its draw for the knockout rounds.