Former Duke Basketball sensations Jayson Tatum and Mason Plumlee struggled in the final Team USA scrimmage before the FIBA World Cup.
After its first loss in 78 games, the United States of America Men’s National Basketball team was back on the court for its last scrimmage before the FIBA World Cup.
Team USA split a pair of games against Australia in Melbourne, the Americans also took on Team Canada in Australia.
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The Americans were able to come away with a 84-68 victory before heading to China for the FIBA World Cup.
However, former Blue Devils Jayson Tatum and Mason Plumlee were not able to leave their mark on the scrimmage.
Tatum struggled, only scoring six points as he was inserted into the starting lineup by head coach Gregg Popovich. The Boston Celtic also gathered four rebounds, one assist, and one block.
Efficient shooting was a major problem for the 6-foot-8 forward who was 2-of-11 from the field and missed his lone 3-point attempt, but did make both of his free throws in just under 20 minutes of action.
As for Mason Plumlee, the Denver Nuggets big man didn’t see that much time on the floor as he scored four points in just under six minutes. He took and made his only shot from the field while his other two points came at the free throw line.
Plumlee was only able to bring down one rebound in the victory.
Team USA will remain in Australia until Thursday when the team flies to Shanghai for more practices before its first game in the FIBA World Cup on September 1 at 8:30am EST against the Czech Republic.
The United States will also play Turkey and Japan in the Group Stage of the World Cup before presumably heading into the knockout round.
The first Team USA World Cup game can be seen on ESPN+.