Getting into the quarterfinals was the only thing Team USA could celebrate after its latest World Cup outing. The Americans survived Italy 55-52 in Berlin and did little to inspire confidence. With Breanna Stewart, Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers and Angel Reese among the talent, podcaster Ben Daniel didn’t have a lot of praise for the team.
“What I just saw, Team USA versus Italy, FIBA World Cup, may have been up to this point, the worst game of women’s professional basketball that I have ever seen,” Daniel admitted on his podcast on September 6. “Worse than any game I’ve saw during Caitlin Clark and the Christie Sides era.”
He prefaced the information by saying that he’d actively consumed and spoken about a lot of WNBA over the past three and a half years. Unfortunately, his criticism didn’t end there.
“Worse than any game I’ve seen during Caitlin Clark and the Stephanie White era,” Daniel further said on his podcast. “Even the worst quarter of Indiana Fever basketball, this was worse than that. There was zero, count them, zero positive things to take away from this game.”
The reaction becomes even more understandable when compared with what happened the last time these teams met. In the World Cup Qualifying Tournament in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Team USA had little trouble with Italy, winning 93-59. That was a 34-point demolition.
This time, however, Italy turned the contest into a completely different story. The Italians refused to let the Americans pull away, stayed within reach throughout the game, and eventually had Team USA fighting simply to protect a narrow lead.
The box score tells much of the story. Neither team could establish any sort of offensive rhythm, but Team USA’s numbers were particularly concerning. The Americans converted only 28.6% of their field-goal attempts, compared to 31% for Italy.
From beyond the arc, the United States managed only one out of 12 attempts. Italy wasn’t exactly lighting it up either, finishing 2-for-15 from three.
What made matters worse was how the offense looked while those numbers were piling up. Early in the game, Team USA appeared to be chasing individual scoring opportunities instead of allowing the offense to develop naturally.
Then, as Italy continued hanging around, the problem seemed to flip. The players became more cautious, with possessions carrying an air of hesitation as the pressure of a close game increased. Instead of playing with the confidence expected from such an experienced group, Team USA spent large stretches looking uncomfortable.
Stewart endured perhaps the roughest shooting night of the group. The veteran forward kept coming up empty on attempts she would normally be expected to make, and her frustration was reflected in the numbers. She did not finally connect from the field until late in the fourth quarter, finishing with five points on 1-for-9 shooting. The rest of the lineup hardly provided the offensive rescue Team USA needed.
Aliyah Boston finished with six points on 2-for-7 shooting. Kahleah Copper couldn’t make a field-goal, going 0-for-4, although she did score six points at the free-throw line. Meanwhile, Caitlin Clark had an unusually quiet offensive night as well, going 0-for-6 from the floor and scoring only one point.
Daniel was far from the only person unimpressed by what unfolded. Rachel DeMita, the popular YouTuber and former college basketball player, also questioned the performance.
“It’s hard for me to be proud of this as a USA fan, because even if I’m looking at this game objectively, the refs are on our side,” she wrote in an Instagram post.
Robin Lundberg, meanwhile, had his own criticism, focusing on the difference between the starting lineup and the players coming off the bench.
“Team USA’s bench is so much better than the starters,” he wrote on X.
That brings the conversation back to Daniel. A win is a win, and Team USA accomplished the immediate objective by advancing to the quarterfinals. However, escaping Italy by three points after dominating the same opponent by 34 earlier this year has left plenty for the Americans to figure out, and Daniel clearly believes there was almost nothing encouraging to take from the performance.