Aug. 13, 2005
IZMIR, Turkey - The USA squad jumped out to a big early lead and went on to defeat Slovakia 85-70 in a preliminary first round game on Saturday afternoon in pool play at the World University Games. Behind a late 17-8 run in the first quarter, Villanova head coach Jay Wright's team took a 27-14 lead after the opening period and led by as many as 31 points in the game.
Villanova guard Randy Foye (Newark, N.J.) scored five points and had five rebounds in the game. Foye shot 2-of-10 from the floor, made a three-pointer and had two steals in the winning effort.
The U.S. was led by Craig Smith (Boston College), who tallied 23 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field and 7-of-9 accuracy from the free throw line. Shelden Williams (Duke) added 13 points and 10 rebounds, while Vincent Grier (Minnesota) chipped in 10 points.
"I think we have a very balanced scoring team," head coach Jay Wright said. "I thought we could have gotten Craig (Smith) a little more involved in the second half, but you have to give Slovakia credit for their defense pushing him out in the second half."
Williams, who has been nursing a sore foot, came off the USA bench to score 12 first half points, eight in the second quarter when the Americans built a 53-31 halftime lead. The men connected on 22 of 41 first half field goal attempts and forced 11 Slovakia turnovers.
"Craig came out real aggressive and set the tone, and when I came in I tried to be an energy player to boost those who were getting tired," said Williams, who posted a double-double. "We have a lot of offensive weapons on this team. We can hurt you from outside and inside."
The USA stretched its lead to 69-38 in the third quarter, only to see Slovakia make a late run to cut the advantage to 71-48 at the end of three. Matt Harayasz (Page, Ariz./Stanford) had five points in the quarter to lead the USA.
Slovakia, which connected on 50 percent of its field goal attempts, outscored the USA by a 22-14 count in the fourth quarter, but 15 points was as close as they would get. Using a full court press at times in the first two games of pool play, the USA has now forced 53 turnovers.
The Americans will return to action on Sunday, Aug. 14 with a 12:45 p.m. game against Germany at Celal Atik in the final game of pool play.
"Germany is very talented," Wright said. "They beat this Slovakia team by twenty points in their first game, and I think it will be a very tough game against them."
