Kentucky Wildcats dominate in USA win over Mali: Highlights and Box Score

Team USA survived its first elimination game with a win over Mali in the Round of 16, 117-69.

Leading the way again for the Americans were the Kentucky Wildcats duo of PJ Washington and Hamidou Diallo. Following his first bad offensive game in Tuesday’s win over Italy, Diallo bounced back to score 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting vs Mali. He added six boards, three assists and a steal.

Washington erupted for 20 on 9-of-12 shooting to go with eight rebounds, three assists and a blocked shot. He was easily the game’s best player as Mali has no answer for him in the paint.

What’s been nice about seeing the two Cats play so well is that they’re not forcing much and the offense isn’t revolving around them. In the first half, Diallo and Washington combined for 13 points on 12 shot attempts.

There were plenty of shots going around to everyone who got in the game, but as has been the case throughout the tournament, the two Cats have made their shots count more than the rest.

Two of UK’s recruiting targets — Immanuel Quickley, Romeo Langford — had quiet games against Mali. Quickley was held to just three points on 1-of-3 shooting to go with one assist and two steals. Langford went for six points on 3-of-7 shooting with three boards.

Fellow UK recruit Cameron Reddish did better with 11 points on 2-of-5 shooting. He also grabbed four boards and dished out six assists as he continues to thrive as a distributor in John Calipari’s offense.

Here is the final box score from the game for the Americans:

Check out a replay of the game here, as well as highlights from USA’s other three wins in the tournament:

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