THERE were 34 players who averaged more than 14 points a game through the first two rounds of the Fiba Basketball World Cup.
Of those, only seven will appear in the quarterfinals.
See Fiba World Cup drawing in the crowd going into final round
Most of the best individual scorers in the World Cup are headed home now and won't come anywhere near the medal stand.
The top scorer in the tournament is Luka Doncic, averaging 26.4 points per game; he's still here, with Slovenia set to meet Canada in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
Canada has the second-best remaining scorer, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, whose 23.8-point average ranks fifth overall in the tournament.
Also still in the field: No. 9 Anthony Edwards of the US (20.2), No. 11 Dennis Schroder of Germany (19.8), No. 16 Bogdan Bogdanovic of Serbia and Simone Fontecchio of Italy (both 18.4) and No. 28 Klemen Prepelic of Slovenia (14.8).
SCHEDULE
The Tuesday schedule:
Quarterfinals: Lithuania vs. Serbia, 4:45 p.m.; U.S. vs. Italy, 8:40 p.m.
The Wednesday schedule:
Quarterfinals: Germany vs. Latvia, 4:45 p.m.; Canada vs. Slovenia, 8:30 p.m.
ODDS
Even after losing to Lithuania to close the second round, the US remains the big favorite to win the World Cup, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.
The Americans' odds were listed at minus-170 (meaning a $170 wager on the Americans would return $270 total, if they won the gold medal). Canada remained the second choice in the betting at plus-370 (a $100 wager would return $370), followed by Germany (plus-950), Serbia (plus-1,600), Lithuania (plus-1,800), Slovenia (plus-1,900), Latvia (plus-3,000) and Italy (plus 7,000).
Serbia is a 1.5-point favorite over Lithuania on Tuesday, the US is a 15.5-point favorite to beat Italy on Tuesday, Germany is an 8.5-point favorite over Latvia on Wednesday and Canada is a 7.5-point favorite over Slovenia on Wednesday.
UP NEXT
Quarterfinal-round losers will play Thursday. Semifinals are Friday. Games to decide fifth and seventh place are Saturday and the gold- and bronze-medal games are Sunday.
STAT OF THE DAY
This will be only the second time in World Cup history that all three medalists from one tournament will fail to medal in the following tournament. It also happened in 2006, when Spain won gold, Greece won silver and the US won bronze. In the preceding event, Spain was fifth, the US was sixth and Greece didn't qualify.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"It's a grown-man game here. A dog-eat-dog world." — U.S. forward Bobby Portis, on the competitiveness of the World Cup.
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