Ribeirao Preto, Brazil ? Kansas University forwards Nick Collison and Drew Gooden combined for 25 points and 14 rebounds as the United States stopped Uruguay, 122-73, Wednesday in the opening game of the World Championship for Young Men qualifying tournament.
Collison, a 6-9 sophomore from Iowa Falls, Iowa, scored 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in 20 minutes. Gooden, 6-9 from Richmond, Calif., scored eight points with three boards in 14 minutes.
Gooden had four steals to go with four turnovers. He hit two of four three-pointers.
“It was good to get out there and play against someone else,” said Collison, noting the USA practiced a full week before heading to Brazil. “Uruguay played really hard, but they are not going to be the best team that we’re going to play against here. But it felt good to get out there and run up and down a little bit.
“We still have a lot of stuff we have to work out before we actually play our best,” Collison added, “but I thought it was a good first game. I just played hard and was in the right place for a lot of rebounds and finishes. On a team like this you just have to play hard.”
Duke’s Jason Williams and Michigan State freshman-to-be Zach Randolph each scored 19 points.
Randolph had six points and Williams added five as the U.S. team opened a 19-4 lead in the game’s first five minutes. The United States, which shot 59 percent for the game (47-for-80) led 58-33 at halftime.
Jason Richardson of Michigan State and Michael Dunleavy of Duke each had 15. Kenny Satterfield of Cincinnati added 10 points for the U.S. team, which was 10-for-25 from three-point range lead by Williams going 3-for-5. Overall the USA hit 47 of 80 shots for 58.8 percent.
The United States finished with a 47-28 advantage off the boards.
Leandro Morales had 14 points to lead Uruguay.
The United States plays Panama today and Argentina on Friday to close preliminary-round play. The top two teams from each of the four-team pools advance to Saturday’s semifinals. The gold medal and bronze medal games are Sunday and the top three teams advance to the 2001 FIBA World Championship for Young Men.
