Canada Set to Play Brazil & Spain in 2nd Round of FIBA World Cup
Canadian basketball fans will see an old friend Friday morning when the Canadian Senior Men's National Basketball Team tips off in the second round of the FIBA World Cup against Brazil.
Canada advanced out of the first round as the top team in Group H alongside the second-seeded Latvians. The team will now face Group G's second-seeded Brazilian team on Friday at 9:30 a.m. ET before a match with the top-seeded Spaniards on Sunday at 9:30 a.m. ET.
Brazil is led by former Toronto Raptors first-round pick Bruno Caboclo who is averaging 14.3 points and 8.7 rebounds through three games so far.
Canada is a perfect 3-0 in the tournament so far with a tournament-leading +111 point differential so far. The team has been led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who is averaging 22 points, the fifth most of any player in the tournament so far.
Spain is going to be the toughest test for Canada in this second round as they currently sit No. 1 in the FIBA rankings. The Spaniards too swept their first-round matchups and sit with a +68 point differential. They're led by former Raptors assistant coach Sergio Scariolo as well as Willy and Juancho Hernangomez, the latter of whom played briefly for the Raptors last season.
Canada needs to finish the tournament as one of the top two teams in the Americas to qualify for the Olympics. Should the team come up short, the Canadians would have to advance out of a last-chance qualifiers tournament in order to qualify for the Paris games.
