“At this point seems like we could maybe lose to anyone. They have now set the bar for how bad they can be,” former college basketball player and basketball analyst Rachel DeMita had a brutal assessment of Team USA’s performance against Italy on Sunday. While the Americans won the game and qualified for the quarterfinals, they gave their worst offensive performance in over four decades. For former college basketball player and podcast host Rachel DeMita, it was hard to watch.
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“I get so fired up about this because this was not even close to what we’re capable of,” DeMita said on her Courtside Club podcast. While she is proud of Team USA’s legacy of World Cup dominance, she couldn’t be proud of this win just because she knew that the defending champions are capable of much more than barely riding out the clock in a 55-52 win.
“I have pride in my team and our country, and I know what they’re capable of, and they’re so freaking good. And I want to see them win. I want to see them win for themselves, for the WNBA, for this team. And I hope this is a wake-up call. I’m glad they got… lucky that they got it done.”
Perhaps the most direct reflection of their forgettable performance was the scoring on the stat sheet. Jackie Young led the team with 10 points. Barring her, no other player scored in double digits. Team USA has some of the best players in the league, including elite offensive names like Breanna Stewart, Kahleah Copper, and Caitlin Clark, just to name a few, and yet all of them were stone cold against Italy’s defense.
The Americans had everything going in their favor in the first quarter. However, Italians switched to their zone defense scheme, and that’s when things fell apart. Team USA shot 29% from the field, including 8% from the 3-point line. Italy shot more and better. Free-throw disparity (30 vs. 20) eventually proved to be the difference maker.
“It’s not just about missing shots. It’s the offense. I don’t know what was going on with the offense. Everyone’s standing around and just doing handoffs on the three-point line…Italy threw a zone at them at some point in time. They threw a man-to-man, and then on defense, everyone was getting beat off the dribble.”
In total, Team USA took 56 shots and made just 16 of them, which included one three-pointer. Caitlin Clark, Breanna Stewart, and Kahleah Copper combined for 1-of-19 from the field. Sure, they might not play as bad as this, but next time, it might not be Italy either.
“If they play like this against any other good team like Spain or Australia, and especially France, you know, they were just sitting back watching and laughing at this game,” WNBA analyst Rosalina Lee said on her YouTube show.
Sure, it can be a tough lesson for the team to buckle up. Perhaps head coach Kara Lawson’s words to her 12 players not playing with passion ignite some competitive fire inside her team, as Lawson did say she saw flaws but didn’t elaborate on which flaws she was talking about after the game.
“Sometimes its good to be tested like this. You see where your weaknesses are, and we know exactly where we need to improve.”
Meanwhile, a team like France is looking closely. The Americans are already vulnerable without a player like A’ja Wilson, who could have given them the advantage.
With so many international players now playing in the WNBA, other teams are not alien to the American playstyle. After all, Team USA won the gold medal game against France by one point in the 2024 Paris Olympics. With France’s deeper roster and A’ja Wilson missing from the US lineup, the Americans may have a much tougher road to the gold medal than in the past four years.