Tag: Canadian Olympic Team

RJ Barrett leads Canadian team in scoring for second straight game at Olympics

Former Duke basketball star RJ Barrett led the Canadian Olympic team in scoring for the second straight time on Tuesday, a 93-83 win over Australia.

The Canadian men’s basketball team won its second straight Olympic game on Tuesday, and for the second straight time, former Duke basketball star [autotag]RJ Barrett[/autotag] led the team in scoring.

Canada beat Australia 93-83 on Tuesday, and Barrett made eight of his 14 attempts from the floor to finish with 24 points.

The Australians built a 49-45 lead through the first half of the game, but a six-point swing in the third quarter gave Barrett and the Canadians the advantage. Canada then dominated the final quarter, only allowing 13 points en route to the double-digit victory.

Canada also beat Greece, led by two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, for an 86-79 win on Saturday. Barrett finished that game with 23 points, making eight of his 13 attempts. He’s averaging 5.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 1.5 steals through two games in Paris.

With the top two countries from every four-team group assured of a spot in the quarterfinals, Barrett and his countrymen have virtually locked up their place in the elimination bracket.

Barrett, who put together one of the best freshman seasons in Duke history back in 2018-19, went third overall to the New York Knicks in the 2019 NBA draft. He was traded to the Toronto Raptors back in December.

Former Duke basketball star RJ Barrett set to play for Canadian Olympic team

RJ Barrett, who now plays for the Toronto Raptors, will play for Canada in Paris this summer in the country’s first Olympics since 2000.

For the first time since 2000, Canada will play in the Olympics for men’s basketball, and former Duke star [autotag]RJ Barrett[/autotag] made the 12-man squad.

Barrett will play alongside Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, an MVP finalist from this past NBA season, and Denver Nuggets guard and 2023 NBA champion Jamal Murray. The Canadians finished third at the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup to secure a spot in Paris this summer, defeating the United States in the bronze medal game.

Barrett, the No. 1 overall prospect in the Class of 2018 and one of the highest-rated Duke commits in program history, spent just one season with the Duke basketball program in 2018-19. He, predictably, had one of the best freshman campaigns in school history, averaging 22.6 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game while he and [autotag]Zion Williamson[/autotag] led the Blue Devils to the Elite Eight.

Barrett, after being the third overall pick in the 2019 NBA draft, spent his first four full seasons with the New York Knicks before being traded to the Toronto Raptors in the middle of last season. He’s averaged 18.4 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 2.9 assists per game as an NBA player.

Barrett will join [autotag]Jayson Tatum[/autotag] (United States) and [autotag]Khaman Maluach[/autotag] (South Sudan) as Blue Devils in Paris for this summer’s games.

Former Duke track star Maddy Price headed to her second Olympics

Price and her fellow Canadians get the chance to avenge their fourth-place finish from the Tokyo Games in the 4×400-meter relay.

For the second straight Games, former Blue Devil Maddy Price is headed to the Olympics.

Price made the women’s 4×400-meter relay team for her home country of Canada on Wednesday, and she also made the provisional 400-meter squad.

In Tokyo three summers ago, Price and her fellow Canadians finished fourth in the 4×400. They missed out on a medal by 0.6 seconds, narrowly beaten out by Jamaica.

“We wanted to bring home a medal for Canada and ourselves,” Price said after she and her team came within inches of the country’s first medal in the event since 1984. “We’ll be back.”

Price spent four years with the Blue Devils from 2014-18, and she made the Indoor First Team All-American squad in the same event as a freshman in 2015. Duke finished sixth at the NCAA Indoor Championships that season. She made four All-ACC teams and two other Second Team All-ACC rosters during her stint in Durham.