USA Men’s and Women’s Team Complete Stop Four of FIBA 3x3 U23 Nations League

Voiron, France (Aug. 2, 2021) – The USA women’s team (2-1) reached the final at Stop 4 of the 2021 FIBA 3x3 U23 Nations League on Tuesday in Voiron, France, while the USA men completed play after going 1-1 in group action.

The USA 3x3 U23 Women’s Team, which

features Emily Engstler (Louisville/New York, N.Y.), Madison Hayes (NC State/Chattanooga, Tenn.), Hailey Van Lith (Louisville/Wenatchee, Wash.) and Kylee Watson (Oregon/Linwood, N.J.). won its two pool play games to advance to the title game, where it fell to France (3-0) 21-10. The USA could not connect from deep, while France made three 2-pointers in the last 3:38 of the contest. France closed out the win with the final score with 1.2 second left on the clock.

In Group A, the USA women defeated Spain (1-1) 16-9 and Israel (0-2) 21-10.

The USA men’s team, comprised of Chris Arcidiacono (Villanova/Langhorne, Pa.), Eric Dixon (Villanova/Willow Grove, Pa.), Trey Patterson (Villanova/Somerset, N.J.) and Brandon Slater (Villanova/Centerville, Va.), beat Israel (0-2) 21-6 and was edged out by Netherlands (2-1) 21-20.

In a tight affair from start to finish, the USA men tied Netherlands 20-20 following an Arcidiacono 2-pointer with 53.5 seconds left, only to see Netherlands take the game 21-10 following a driving layup with 50.1 seconds left. Dixon led the USA with 11 points. Netherlands advanced to the finals, where it lost to France (3-0).

The USA teams are competing in the Europe-America conference of the FIBA 3x3 U23 Nations League and will play again the next two days in Voiron, France, with stop five taking place on Aug. 3 and the sixth and final stop on Aug. 4.

The format for both the men’s and women’s teams each day includes two pools of three teams, and each team plays the two other squads in its pool. The No. 1 team from each pool plays in the title game.  

Twenty-six national federations registered both a men’s and women’s 3x3 team for the 2021 FIBA U23 Nations League, with teams being allocated in five different conferences: Africa, Asia, Europe-America, Europe 1 and Europe 2. The U23 Nations League helps countries prepare talent for future international competition.

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