Canada’s reward for a top finish in the group stages was a quarterfinal match against Colombia, a nation celebrating their first-ever top-eight AmeriCup finish. In one of the more routine and uneventful knockout games of the tournament Canada dominated from the opening whistle, cruising to a comfortable 94-56 victory.
In the first quarter, Canada made it a point of emphasis to establish their dominance inside. With Colombia’s tallest player listed at just 6’9″, the SMNT used their size and length to overwhelm their opponent on the interior and the offensive glass. Canada recorded a total of six baskets coming from deep in the restricted area and outscored Colombia by a total of 14 points in the paint. Leonard Miller, especially, got off to a hot start in a bounce back game after going 4/15 against Puerto Rico, scoring 12 of his 14 points in the first quarter. The most efficient field goal in basketball is at the rim and the Canada had plenty of those opportunities. At the same time, they limited Colombia to just three attempts in the paint in a clear recipe for success.
The second quarter was a completely different attack from the Canadian offense. After starting the game missing their first four 3’s, the SMNT went 6/8 from beyond the arc, and broke the game wide open. From then on, Canada was in the driver’s seat.
The most interesting part of the second half was the starting lineup HC Nathaniel Mitchell went to coming out of halftime. David Muenkat, whose been the defacto fifth starter since the AmeriCup began, was replaced by the sharpshooting Nate Darling. The 5-man lineup garnered mixed results in the limited 5:15 mins of game time, after being outscored 18-9. There’s obviously a lot of noise here (especially with some hot shooting from Colombian G Hansel Atencia), but I think the original starting lineup is going to need to change as the SMNT enters the stretch run of the tournament. Muenkat has filled in admirably on the defensive end with his physicality, but he’s been destructive on offense when he’s sharing the floor with Miller and Mfiondu Kabengele, two other non shooters. His 60.8 OFFRTG is second lowest on the team (yes I know individual OFFRTG is a flawed metric, especially at this small sample size, but without access to better data, it’s the best estimate to quantify Muenkat’s offensive impact) and it’s at least confirming what the eye test is showing. The inclusion of Darling helps to balance the offensive and defensive scales in my eyes and can help the SMNT get out to better starts in key games (note: Canada fell behind 11-8 early against Puerto Rico with the original starting lineup).
Given the quality of opponent, I don’t think there’s much to takeaway from this game. Looking ahead though, Canada will take on the defending champions, Argentina, in the 2025 AmeriCup semifinals, after the South American giant came from behind to defeat Puerto Rico, 82-77. While Argentina’s top quintet of EuroLeague talent (Facundo Campazzo, Leandro Bolmaro, Gabriel Deck, Luca Vildoza and Nicolas Laprovittola) are all missing from the tournament, the SMNT cannot afford to take them lightly, especially as they have the overwhelming advantage in terms of continuity (Argentina has played a total of 10 exhibition games in addition to the 4 tournament games thus far). Led by head coach and former NBA pro, Pablo Prigioni, Argentina has had quite the eventful tournament thus far, with half of their games going to overtime and a post-game brawl against the Dominican Republic that resulted in suspensions to three Argentine players. Twenty-three-year-old big man Juan Fernandez has been a revelation in this tournament and he’ll be at the top of Canada’s scouting report. At 6’10”, he’s a fluid, skilled big that can stretch the floor and is exceptional rolling to the rim (especially after slipping the screen). A similar challenge to what was posed by George Conditt IV and Ismael Romero as rollers, but with less brutish, bruising strength. Did I mention he’s averaging 3.3 BLK per game as well?
On the other side of the bracket, the tournament favourites, Brazil, will look to exact revenge against the USA for their group stage loss that ended up sliding them to third overall in Group A and squeak into the knockout stages. The Americans (and Brazilians, for that matter) have looked vulnerable throughout the tournament while Canada has been far and away the most consistent team amongst the contenders. That’s encouraging, but as always, anything can happen in single elimination games.
