PORTLAND — The talk throughout a week of practice was that the United States appeared to have a clear advantage in talent in the 2016 Nike Hoop Summit over the World Select Team.
Team USA ran away with a 101-67 victory over the World Team, in the largest margin of victory for USA Basketball in the 18th Nike Hoop Summit.
USA’s Terrence Ferguson, currently not committed to any college, led his team with 21 points, including seven 3-pointers, which was a Team USA record in the Hoop Summit.
And he had some jokes as a cherry on top of his big day.
“I had to put my hand in some ice just to cool it down,” Ferguson said after the game. “I don’t want to touch the mic because it might catch on fire.”
The chatter following the week of practice was accurate from the very beginning, with the USA starting the game on a 16-0 run in the first 6-plus minutes.
“Our whole model this week was to be very aggressive from the beginning,” USA head coach LJ Goolsby said.
During that opening stretch, the World team had more than twice as many turnovers as field goal attempts (11-5).
The final total in the turnover was 29-15 in favor of Team USA.
The World finally broke through with 3:09 left in the first quarter on a wide open dunk by Udoka Azubuike, representing Nigeria.
The World Team found themselves down 20-7 after the first quarter.
“The USA just really attacked us, they threw the first punch and we didn’t get together and really execute out plays,” said center DeAndre Ayton of the World Team.
It looked for a moment that the World Team would turn this into a competitive affair, making a run and getting the game to within 8.
But that’s when Ferguson erupted for a string of 18 points with all of them coming on 3-pointers in the 2nd quarter and leaving the World team in the dust.
Ferguson got the crowd excited and simultaneously demoralized the World Team.
USA doubled the World Team point total at halftime, leading 44-22, and didn’t show any signs of slowing the blowout.
Ferguson and his 3-point excellence weren’t the only things keeping the USA well in front of the world.
Their suffocating defense was the catalyst for their success, getting out in transition against a less athletic World team and getting high quality looks at the basket.
The player who had the best game for the World team was Brazilian Wesley “Mogi” Silva, who scored a team-high nine points and finished with eight rebounds.
Jayson Tatum was very effective for Team USA, scoring 14 points on the night and going a perfect 6-for-6 from the line.
Washington commit Markelle Fultz played a solid game, scoring 11 points and dishing three assists.
West Linn product and Oregon commit Payton Prichard pitched in 12 points off the bench, much to the delight of local fans in attendance.
Prichard said he plans to head to campus June 20th to begin preparing for the upcoming season with the Ducks and does plan to play in the Northwest Shootout next week at Liberty High School, despite dealing with what he called a strained hip flexor.
Ayton of the Bahamas, the most highly regarded recruit on the World team finished with eight points but it wasn’t easy, mostly due to the fact that most of his team appeared to be severely out of their depth.
Team USA did not relent, even making a buzzer beating 3-pointer courtesy of Jarrett Allen to cap off the biggest blowout in the history of the hoop summit.
Azubuike (back) and Canadian Justin Jackson (groin) both left the game with injuries.
