Team USA takes down S. Korea 113-76

Deon Thompson

In the second game of the World University Games Deon Thompson & Co. had no problem beating South Korea. It was not really even a contest, as Team USA beat down its second opponent of the tournament, this time with a lopsided score of 113 to 76, of which 82 came in the paint. It was a game where all twelve members of the team coached by Bo Ryan scored, and while Thompson only saw 12 minutes of action he ended up with a dozen points on a 5 for 8 performance. With the victory Team USA advanced to the 2nd round of the tournament, where it faced Greece. As I said before the team left for this tournament, they need to exploit the other squad’s height and pound the ball inside. Deon Thompson agreed with me as he said this after the game (from the official web site of USA Basketball):

“We didn’t know that we would be able to dominate the paint, but we looked at their size and saw that it would be dumb for us not to go inside,” said Thompson. “Guys were getting into the paint and finishing. That definitely was a good way to attack them.”

Deon Thompson

If UNC can get 12 points in 12 minutes from Thompson in the upcoming season I believe that head coach Roy Williams (and his staff) would be delighted. However I would also say that coach Williams would love to see his power forward get more than two rebounds against a much small team such as South Korea. In the end, I am more and more confident that this experience is going to help the young man in his last go around in Chapel Hill and that many fans will be surprised of the jump he will make from last year (as a role player) to this year (as a senior leader). Coming up this afternoon (or this evening) on The Fifth Corner a small recap about the next game that Team USA played, so stay tuned for that.

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