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Former Wildcat Nico Mannion scores 21 points in Italy’s loss

By Eric Townsend

Italy's Niccolo Mannion goes to the basket past Australia's Matthew Dellavedova in the men's preliminary round group B basketball match between Italy and Australia during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama on July 28, 2021. (Photo by Aris MESSINIS / AFP) (Photo by ARIS MESSINIS/AFP via Getty Images)
Italy's Niccolo Mannion goes to the basket past Australia's Matthew Dellavedova in the men's preliminary round group B basketball match between Italy and Australia during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama on July 28, 2021. (Photo by Aris MESSINIS / AFP) (Photo by ARIS MESSINIS/AFP via Getty Images) /
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TOKYO, JAPAN – Former Wildcat Nico Mannion dazzled as he scored 21 points and dished seven assists in Italy’s loss to Australia in the Olympics.

Squaring off in the second game of the Preliminary Round of Group B play in the Olympics, Italy faced Australia in what was a battle of former Wildcats Nico Mannion and Josh Green.

Just two of several Wildcats that are competing at the Olympics, already, the two helped spur wins just days ago as Italy knocked off Germany and Australia raced past Nigeria in the opening round of play.

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Arizona Wildcats

Well after a couple of days off, finally our two Wildcats returned to action against each other on Wednesday in what was a rather competitive and entertaining game.

Coming out swinging like prized fighters exchanging blows, both squads would trade buckets in the first quarter, remaining tied at 25-25 after one-quarter of play. Then Italy would come alive in the second.

Led behind the play of Mannion and NBA star Danilo Gallinari, Italy would gain the slight edge in the second quarter, taking a one-point lead at the half at 45-44.

However, Australia wouldn’t go quietly in this one. Seeing five players score in double figures, it was truly a collective effort here for Australia as they outscored Italy 21-17 in the third quarter and then held on for the 86-83 win.

Despite Italy’s loss, former Wildcat Nico Mannion dazzled as he scored 21 points and dished seven assists on 9/15 shooting.

While I’m sure that the loss to Australia wasn’t the result that Nico was probably looking for, nonetheless, in his first two games in Japan, the former Wildcat is excelling and the experience he is gaining by competing at one of the highest levels in the process is invaluable.

This past season with the Golden State Warriors, Nico seemed to find his rhythm late in the year, scoring a career-high 19 points and three assists against the Sacramento Kings back in March.

As for Josh, the Australian native saw limited action in his teams’ win on Wednesday, logging just 10 seconds of play and scoring 0 points.

For the both of them, play will continue on as Italy will play again on Saturday against Nigeria, meanwhile, Australia will square off with Germany.

Here’s a recap of Wednesday’s game:

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