Oni, Nigeria Continue Run With Win Over Argentina

Jul 12, 2021, 5:43 PM

Miye Oni celebrates with his teammates (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

(Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

KSL Sports

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The Nigerian National Team including Utah Jazz guard Miye Oni continued their surprising run ahead of the Tokyo Olympics with a 94-71 blowout victory over Argentina in Las Vegas.

Nigeria, who beat the heavily favored Team USA on Saturday 90-87 as the teams compete in international friendly competitions before heading to Tokyo for the Olympic games later this month.

After Oni’s six point, three rebound, and two assist performance on Saturday, the second-year guard scored five points and grabbed five rebounds while connecting on 2-4 shooting from the floor and 1-3 from the three-point line against Argentina.

Oni and Nigeria will wrap up their international friendlies tomorrow when they face fellow Jazzman Joe Ingles and the Boomers of Australia.

MIYE ONI AT THE BUZZER!

NIGERIA 74
Argentina 55

End of third quarter. pic.twitter.com/VIUPwio9Fr

— D’Tigers | Nigeria Basketball (@NigeriaBasket) July 12, 2021

Oni Looking To Qualify For Team Nigeria

The Nigerian team sits at 15 players currently and will have to be trimmed to 12 players ahead of the Olympics. As it stands, Oni is right near the cut line based on playing time over the first two games played in Las Vegas.

Oni played the third-fewest minutes in Nigeria’s victories over Argentina and Team USA, including the first game in which shoo-in Jahlil Okafor did not play. However, no player from the Nigerian National Team recorded more than 21 minutes, keeping the minute distribution relatively even throughout the deep roster.

The Jazz guard is unlikely to learn his Olympic fate until after the Las Vegas scrimmages have concluded.

The schedules for @UtahJazz players at the Olympics. #TakeNote #TokyoOlympics https://t.co/dUMJP4JhWy

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) July 9, 2021

Team Nigeria will compete in Group B at the Olympics with Australia, Italy, and Germany, they are guaranteed a meeting with each opponent in their group with a chance to advance to the quarter-finals.

The top two teams from the three Olympic groups, plus the top two third-place teams will advance to the eight-team quarter-finals. Those eight teams will face off for a chance to compete in the Gold and Bronze medal games.