KU basketball freshman Taylen Kinney’s Team USA squad makes title game of FIBA event
Kansas freshman point guard Taylen Kinney’s USA Basketball Under 18 national team defeated Brazil 102-56 in Saturday’s FIBA Under 18 AmeriCup semifinal contest in Leon, Mexico.
The victory propelled Team USA into Sunday’s 9 p.m. Central finals against Canada.
Kinney, a 6-foot native of Newport, Kentucky, played last season with the Overtime Elite program in Atlanta. He scored six points on 1-of-4 shooting Saturday. He was 1-of-4 from the field including 0-for-1 from 3.. He was 4-for-4 from the line.
Kinney also dished five assists against two turnovers with two steals and one rebound while starting and playing 11 minutes.
UConn freshman Colben Landrew led the way with 18 points and two rebounds. Quentin Coleman had 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting and 10 rebounds for Team USA, now 4-0.
“We came here to win gold and we get the opportunity tomorrow to go do that,” said Coleman, a freshman at University of Illinois.
KU’s Kinney in previous games scored three points with three assists against Brazil, 12 points with four assists against Mexico and six points with five assists against Argentina.
This will be the fourth time in tournament history that Canada and the U.S. will have met in the FIBA U18 AmeriCup championship game. The two teams previously met in 2014, 2016 and 2018 with the Americans prevailing each time.
Team USA will be seeking its eighth consecutive gold medal in the competition, while Canada will be chasing its first-ever title.
“For us, it was about us bringing the energy and controlling the things we can control,” Team USA coach Anthony Grant said after the semifinal win over Brazil, Team USA’s second victory versus Brazil in the event.
“It’s an honor to be in a position where you get a chance to play for a gold medal, and we understood that we had to take care of today, so the guys did a great job of focusing in and taking care of today.”
