The U.S. Men’s basketball team started its Olympic exhibition slate on Saturday, and it didn’t go well. In one of the most stunning international upsets in history, Nigeria defeated Team USA 90-87 in Las Vegas. Team USA is now 54-3 in exhibition games since 1992.
Kevin Durant led Team USA with 17 points, followed by Jayson Tatum with 15 and Damian Lillard with 14. If you want some context as to what constitutes calling this an all-time upset, look at the result when these two countries played at the 2012 Olympics in London:
After the London Games, the U.S. and Nigeria met again in 2016 for an exhibition, and the U.S. won by 44 (110-66).
On Saturday, Nigeria — which is being led by Warriors assistant coach Mike Brown — took the common route to pulling off a massive upset: it got scorching hot from 3, hitting 20-of-42 triples and never trailing in the fourth quarter. Gabe Vincent, of the Miami Heat, hit six of those 3s en route to a team-best 21 points. Nigeria also won the rebounding battle 46-34.
You would think this would get Team USA’s attention as it continues to prep for the start of the Olympics in Tokyo. We’ll see if this lights a fire when the U.S. gets back on the court for its next exhibition on Monday vs. Australia.
