Canada stays undefeated in men's basketball at Olympics with huge win

It hasn’t always been pretty, but the Canadian men’s basketball team has handled their first two tests at the Olympics.

On Tuesday, the Canadians bested the Australians by a 93-83 score to remain undefeated early in their Olympic journey.

The Raptors’ RJ Barrett led the way for Canada with 24 points, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Dillon Brooks each contributed 16 points each. Josh Giddey, meanwhile, carried Australia with 19 points of his own.

Basketball 🏀 : le Canada 🇨🇦 signe une deuxième victoire aux #jeuxolympiques de @Paris2024 en s’imposant 93-83 contre l’Australie 🇦🇺.#basketball #Paris2024 #rcsports @CanBball pic.twitter.com/P8zoEDilNO

— Radio-Canada Sports (@RC_Sports) July 30, 2024

Despite being down at halftime and carrying just a 72-70 lead into the fourth quarter, Canada held Australia to just 13 fourth-quarter points to secure the win.

Canada is now 2-0, after beating Greece 86-79 in their opener on Saturday. Those two wins likely give Canada a berth in the quarterfinals, with the country now having medal expectations after decades of disappointing national teams. In other Group A action, Spain topped Greece 84-77.

With eight of 12 teams making the quarterfinal, Canada has virtually guaranteed their spot in the final eight, potentially knowing their fate by the end of today’s two remaining games between Japan-France and Brazil-Germany.

Despite their success in Paris so far, it’s actually the first time Canada’s been at the Olympics with their men’s national team since 2000.

Canada continues their tournament on Friday, with their final group stage game against Spain. That game goes at 11:15 am ET/8:15 am PT. Should Canada win, they’ll finish atop what was originally considered a “group of death” once the final draw came out following last month’s Olympic qualifying tournaments.

The Canadian women, on the other hand, will be back in action Thursday, when they face off against the Australians at 7:30 am ET/4:30 am PT. Taking on hosts France in the first match of Group B action, Canada fell by a disappointing 75-54 margin on Monday.

You might also like:
• Canada wins three medals in most successful day of Paris Olympics so far