Breanna Stewart, A’ja Wilson and Group USA tackle Ezinne Kalu and Nigeria in Olympic basketball quarterfinals

The Olympic girls’s basketball quarterfinals happen tomorrow, and with that, the U.S. will face off in opposition to Nigeria at 3:30pm ET. It may very well be one of many extra lopsided quarterfinals video games — however then once more, Nigeria has been counted out earlier than, and has continued to shock throughout this Olympic run.

The 2 girls’s basketball packages hail from vastly completely different historic contexts: the US girls’s group has gained a placing 58 consecutive Olympic video games — and 7 straight gold medals — whereas Nigeria simply made historical past by turning into the primary African nation to ever make the quarterfinals in Olympic basketball historical past.

However, in single-elimination play, that may not issues. Historic accolades gained’t management the end result of a forty minute basketball sport — if Nigeria performs exceptionally effectively, and if the U.S. struggles, Nigeria have an opportunity, as wild an upset as it could be. And whereas USA Basketball has blown out each opponent to date, a number of video games have been shut for a while earlier than they pulled away in dominant trend.

Right here’s what to anticipate from this matchup.

A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart will proceed to steer USA

Thus far all through this Olympic run, the US has been led by the dominant front-court tandem of Breanna Stewart and A’ja Wilson, every of whom are averaging 20.3 factors per sport. Each have been extremely environment friendly — Stewart is capturing 62.5% from the sphere, and Wilson 56.8% — and have performed off of one another extremely effectively. Stewart and Wilson’s elite play ought to come as no shock to anybody who’s watched girls’s basketball this decade — collectively, they’ve racked up 4 MVPs and 4 championships, whereas persistently being probably the most dominant gamers within the league.

Picture by SAMEER AL-DOUMY/AFP through Getty Pictures

All through the group-stage video games, Chelsea Grey, Diana Taurasi, and Napheesa Collier have rounded out the beginning lineup, whereas bench gamers Alyssa Thomas and Jackie Younger have served as significantly significant contributors, amongst others. Younger exploded for 19 factors (and 5 three-pointers) in Sunday’s win over Germany, whereas Thomas has supplied a spark of power on each ends of the ground every time she’s checked in.

Brittney Griner, a longtime Group USA veteran, has supplied unequalled dimension off the bench, and has been the group’s fourth-leading scorer by means of three video games, averaging 8 factors and 5.3 rebounds an evening. Sharpshooter Sabrina Ionescu — the youngest participant on the roster —has added 7.7 factors per sport, whereas Jackie Younger has scored 8.7 factors a sport, punctuated by her large efficiency in opposition to Germany.

The great thing about this basketball group has been its well-roundedness and ball motion — outdoors of Stewart and Wilson, who’ve each been closely featured within the offense, scoring and touches have been fairly constant throughout the board.

The components they’ve assembled offensively has labored. Group USA is capturing 49.5% from the sphere and averaging 92 factors per sport — 16 factors greater than Belgium has averaged, and the 2023 EuroBasket champions are chargeable for the second highest-scoring offense within the subject. Ball distribution has been the hallmark attribute of the U.S.’s offense — they’ve averaged 28.7 assists per sport, led by Grey, who’s dished 6 dimes an evening.

Whereas the group didn’t have a lot time to follow forward of exhibition play, a number of mixtures of gamers are additionally WNBA teammates. Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu, for instance, each play for the Liberty. The Aces have 4 gamers on the Olympic roster, they usually’ve displayed significantly sturdy chemistry when sharing the ground collectively. Even former WNBA groups have had the prospect to hyperlink up. That’s made a considerable distinction, stated Breanna Stewart.

“We positively know the place each other is,” Stewart stated, per USA At this time. “You see it with anybody who’s right here with their teammates, you simply have that chemistry as a result of the (WNBA) season has been happening, all of the practices, all of the reps. It’s useful that (Sabrina’s) all the time in search of me. While you’re in a two- or three-man motion, there’s some sense of familiarity … particularly in transition, she is aware of the place I’m working and he or she’s going to search out me.”

Nigeria upset two groups en path to the quarterfinals

On the opposite facet of the coin, you’ve gotten Nigeria, who most likely didn’t predict would qualify for single-elimination play. However, after upsetting Australia 75-62 of their first Olympic sport, and later defeating Canada, 79-70, they secured a spot within the quarterfinals.

Picture by Gregory Shamus/Getty Pictures

Nigeria has been led by Ezinne Kalu, who’s averaged 19.3 factors per sport on 47.1% capturing. Kalu was a standout at Savannah State College, and is now the fifth main scorer within the Olympic subject. Kalu is a three-level scorer who’s shot 41.2% from downtown, and can even get downhill and draw free throws at a excessive clip. She’ll probably want a monster efficiency to tug off the upset — however she’s already proven she thrives in large moments. Alongside her, Murjanatu Musa has additionally been impactful, averaging 10.7 factors and 6.7 rebounds per sport.

After Nigeria certified for the quarterfinals, Kalu articulated the magnitude of the second.

“It means lots, you recognize, not simply to us as a group, however to the whole world of Africa,” Kalu stated, per AP Information. “It solely will get more durable from right here.”

It’s not the primary time the 2 international locations’ girls’s basketball packages have confronted off. The U.S. and Nigeria performed each other in a group-stage sport in Tokyo, and USA got here out on prime by 9 factors in that one — although they led by double-digits for a lot of the sport.

A loaded day of quarterfinals play

The Nigeria-USA matchup will shut out a day of girls’s basketball quarterfinals play. Serbia and Australia will kick issues off with a sport at 5am, adopted by Spain-Belgium at 8:30am, earlier than a Germany-France matchup at 12pm ET.

If Group USA defeats Nigeria, they’ll advance to the semifinals, which slated for Friday, August ninth. Each the Bronze and Gold Medal Video games are on Sunday.