Nicolo Melli doesn’t give up after defeat against the U.S.

The words of Nicolò Melli

Nothing to do for the Azzurri against the USA battleship. Italy has to give way 100-63 and say goodbye to medal ambitions. The talent, physicality’and defensive application of coach Kerr’s team are an obstacle too hard to overcome for Italy, which stumbled into a night of really low percentages.

Nicolò Melli doesn’t want to know about giving up, despite the defeat: "We did everything we could up to here. We deserved a little more; but this è sport and we will be back next summer, and the one after that, and the one after that. I am very proud to be part of this group and already; next summer we will be back to try to qualify for the Olympic Games. I am happy for Matteo Spagnolo, Gabriele Procida and Momo Diouf, who played very little but contributed a lot to building this group. Without them we would not be here. If they work hard they will be able to take great satisfaction becauseè they are talented and they are golden boys".

He was echoed by captain Gigi Datome: "The U.S. has incredible athleticism and physicality. Then if he can’t make a basket from outside then you can’t even play it. We were not favorites but it still hurts and my opinion of this group does not change: proud and happy to be part of this group".

The World Cup will continue on Sept. 7 (10:45 a.m. Italian time, live RAI, Sky Sport Summer, Now and DAZN) against the loser of the challenge between Germany and Latvia on the field tomorrow, Sept. 6, and will close the event on Sept. 9. These are the last matches to determine the final ranking from 5° to’8° place.