By JOSH NEWMAN
We now know Jamal Murray isn’t going to be intimidated playing against older players with the Canadian National Team.
The 6-foot-5 Kentucky-bound point guard more than held his own on Tuesday evening, scoring 12 points on 5-for-7 shooting in 21 minutes off the bench in his National Team debut as Canada registered a 105-88 win over the Dominican Republic in the Pan American Games opener for both.
Another highly-touted young Canadian, Oregon sophomore star Dillon Brooks, finished with two points in seven minutes of action.
“I play with older guys all of the time,” Murray said in a release from Canada Basketball. “It’s more physical, but once you run up the court a couple times, you get a good feel for the game.”
Former Baylor sharpshooter Brady Heslip led five Canadians in double-figures with a game-high 24 points on 9-for-15 shooting and 5-for-10 from 3-point range.
Seton Hall’s Angel Delgado had 15 points and six rebounds in the loss for the D.R.
Tuesday marked the beginning of a critical summer for the Canadian National Team that will culminate with the FIBA Americas Championship next month in Mexico. The top two teams in the 10-team event qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics. Canada has not qualified for the Olympics since the 2000 Sydney Games.
Murray was held back from participating in the FIBA Under-19 World Championships with an eye on having him play up a level at Pan Am. Brooks played with the Canada’s U-19 team, which lost in the quarterfinals before finishing fifth, it’s highest-ever finish in that age group.
On a conference call earlier this month, Canada head coach Jay Triano, a Trail Blazers assistant, would not rule out the possibility of Murray at least going to training camp with the National Team as it prepares for FIBA Americas, which runs Aug. 31-Sept. 12.
“At the end of the Pan American Games, we’re going to do a complete evaluation of all the players that represented Canada and we’re going to sit down as a staff and figure out how we’re going to qualify for the Olympics,” Triano said. “The Olympic Qualifying Tournament, it’s no secret, is a big event for us this summer. Our NBA players know that, even the NBA teams know that.”
