Arkansas basketball signee Anthony Black contributed to a blowout win for Team USA against the Dominican Republic to open group play at the 2022 FIBA U18 Americas Championship on Monday.
Black, a 6-7 guard from Duncanville, Texas, and one of 12 players selected to the team last week, did not shoot the ball well but impacted the team’s 116-48 victory in Tijuana, Mexico. He finished with only 2 points on 1 of 7 shooting in his 21:02 on the floor.
Black, however, recorded 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 block, as well. His seven rebounds were third most on the team behind starters Eric Dailey Jr. (10) and Kel’el Ware (9), a former standout at North Little Rock and an Oregon signee.
Two of Black’s three assists came in the opening quarter, when Team USA grabbed a 30-12 lead.
The first he was credited with came 30 seconds after checking in and went to North Carolina commit Gregory Jackson for a dunk in transition. Black keyed the runout opportunity after grabbing one of his six defensive rebounds.
Then, with 2:48 left in the first quarter, Black found Villanova signee Cam Whitmore for an alley oop to push the Team USA lead to 24-6. Whitmore finished with 10 points, and Ware led the way with 17.
Black’s final find, too, went to Jackson for a layup and put Team USA up 83-28 in the third quarter. He assisted in the team’s 63 fast-break points and 82 points in the paint.
Team USA’s largest lead was 72 points.
According to shot chart data from FIBA.Basketball, Black was 1 of 5 shooting in the lane, 0 of 1 in the right short corner and 0 of 1 from three-point range on the right wing. His lone score came on a breakaway dunk in the second quarter following a Jackson steal.
Black then deflected the ensuing inbound pass out of bounds.
Team USA is scheduled to play Ecuador on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. Central. The game will be streamed on the FIBA YouTube channel.