FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament: Canada vs. China game preview, rosters, how to watch

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Who's Playing

Matchup: Canada vs. China

Standings:

Group A
  Team GP W L PCT POINTS
1 🇨🇦Canada 1 1 0 1.000 2
2 🇬🇷Greece 1 0 1 0.0 0
3 🇨🇳 China - - - - -

Where to watch

Date: Wednesday, June 30

Time: 7:05 p.m.

TV: CBC and DAZN (Canada), ESPN+ (United States), Livebasketball.tv (Global)

Location: Victoria Memorial Arena, Victoria, British Columbia

Rosters

Canada
  Name Position Height Current Club
1 Luguentz Dort G 6'4" Oklahoma City Thunder
2 Trae Bell-Haynes G 6'2" Crailaheim Merlins
4 Nickeil Alexander-Walker G 6'5" New Orleans Pelicans
6 Cory Joseph G 6'4" Detroit Pistons
7 Dwight Powell F 6'9" Dallas Mavericks
8 Trey Lyles C 6'10" San Antonio Spurs
9 RJ Barrett G 6'5" New York Knicks
10 Anthony Bennett F 6'8" Cangrejeros de Santurce
11 Aaron Doornekamp F 6'7" Lenovo Tenerife
22 Andrew Wiggins G 6'7" Golden State Warriors
23 Mychal Mulder G 6'4" Golden State Warriors
44 Andrew Nicholson F 6'9" Fujian Sturgeons

China

  Name Position Height Current club 2 Jie Xu G 5'11" Guangdong Dongguan Bank 3 Mingxuan Hu G 6'3" Guangdong Dongguan Bank 4 Jiwei Zhao G 6'1" Liaoning Flying Leopards 8 Zhenlin Zhang F 6'9" Liaoning Flying Leopards 10 Peng Zhou F 6'9" Guangdong Dongguan Bank 12 Junfei Ren C 6'9" Guangdong Dongguan Bank 13 Chuanxing Liu C 7'5" Qingdao Eagles 14 Zijie Shen C 6'11" Shenzhen Leopards Basketball Club 15 Qi Zhou C 6'11" Xinjiang Flying Tigers 16 Wenbo Lu G 6'4" Zhenjiang Chouzhou Club 21 Shaojie Wang C 6'11" Beijing Royal Fighters 33 Qian Wu G 6'3" Zhenjiang Chouzhou Club

Game Preview

Canada got out to a slower than expected start against Greece, the result of stagnant offence against a zone defence and some shaky defence on their behalf. Greece got hot from beyond the arc early on, but Canada was able to keep the game close thanks to a second quarter scoring outburst from 22-year-old Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who poured in 10 points in the frame during his Senior Men's National Team debut.

MORE: Alexander-Walker's offensive spark is what Canada needs

With that run breathing some life into Canada, the team was able to match Greece's initial energy and take back the lead early in the third quarter. From there, stars Andrew Wiggins and RJ Barrett took over, leading to monster scoring outputs from the dynamic duo.

Wiggins finished with 23 points while shooting 9-for-16 from the field and 3-for-6 from 3-point range, knocking down clutch shots down the stretch to put Greece away. 18 of Barrett's 22 points came in the second half, as the 21-year-old asserted his dominance by putting constant pressure on the rim, attacking Greece's defence.

MORE: Wiggins, Barrett explode as Canada defeats Greece

Dwight Powell was a factor inside, establishing himself as a constant lob threat and a presence on the glass. He finished with 12 points (4-4 FG) and seven rebounds. Against a bigger China team with seven players over 6-foot-9, Powell's physicality will play a huge role in how successful Canada is against their next opponent.

China has yet to play a game in this tournament, but expect 6-foot-11 center Qi Zhou, a second-round pick by the Houston Rockets in the 2016 NBA Draft, to leave an imprint.

This contest will be the third of four games played in Group A, where each team plays each other once. The top two teams advance to the Qualifying Tournament's Final Four, where they will face off against the top two teams from Group B with one ticket to the Tokyo Olympics on the line.

A win for Canada clinches a spot in the four-team tournament to try and earn that ticket.

Here's the schedule for Group A:

Group A schedule, FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament
Date Teams Time
Tuesday, June 29 Canada 97, Greece 91
Wednesday, June 30 China vs. Canada 7:05 p.m.
Thursday, July 1 Greece vs. China 7:05 p.m.

Canada vs. China: Betting odds, spread, over/under

Spread: Canada -23.5 (-120) , China +23.5 (-120)

Canada Money Line: -20000

China Money Line: +1600

Over/under: 172.5 (-115)

Odds courtesy of Bet365.

The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA or its clubs.

Author(s)
Kyle Irving Photo

Kyle Irving is an NBA content producer for The Sporting News.