Pitt Athletic Department put out a press release on Kendall’s performance at the U-21.
University of Pittsburgh junior forward Levon Kendall earned all-tournament team honors after leading Canada to a Bronze Medal finish Sunday at the FIBA Under-21 World Basketball Championships. Canada’s Bronze Medal marked the first time a Canadian age-group team has medaled at a FIBA World Championship event.
In its first-ever appearance at the Under-21 World Championships, Canada defeated Australia 79-74 to earn the Bronze Medal. The victory completed an outstanding tournament for Canada, which dropped its semifinal game Saturday to Greece, 74-61.
Kendall led Canada into the medal round after he scored a tournament-high 40 points in a 93-90 overtime victory over the United States on Friday. In the win, Kendall hit 16 of 22 field goals (2-2 3-pointers), pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds and dished out three assists in 42 minutes. The Canadians erased a seven point deficit with three minutes to go and Kendall sent the contest into overtime with a game-tying basket with 25 seconds remaining.
Amazing what one stunning game can do for a guy’s profile. From miserable tournament to being named as one of the 5 best players in the tournament.
Andy Katz has more on his blog (Insider Subs.)
Levon Kendall a 40-point scorer? Don’t look for it against UConn or anyone else in the Big East.
Against Team USA in the Under-21 World Championship? That’s a whole different story.
Kendall dropped 40 on the United States in Canada’s shocking overtime win in the medal round quarterfinals Friday in Mar del Plata, Argentina. Kendall’s encore was the 15-spot he posted against Australia in Canada’s surprising bronze medal victory Sunday.
His college coach was impressed … and surprised.
“I don’t think he’ll score 40 for us,” Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon said of the 6-foot-9 sophomore forward who averaged 3.5 points and 2.5 rebounds in 13.9 minutes a game for the Panthers as a freshman.
“It’s tough to score 40 in those [tournament] games, especially when he had been averaging around seven points a game,” Dixon said.
USA coach Phil Martelli put Charlotte’s Curtis Withers on Kendall, but nothing seemed to matter, as Kendall scored at will. It was shocking, since Kendall had scored just 30 points in Canada’s four previous tournament games (and then only had eight points on 2-for-10 shooting in a semifinal loss to Greece). Still, that one performance helped propel Kendall to the all-tournament team, essentially recognized as one of the five best players in the tournament.
That’s some heady company for a role player at Pitt who will be counted on heavily to replace Chevy Troutman next season.
“He was going to play the four for this team — he’s a four-man but we had to play him at the three last year,” Dixon said. “He’s always been confident. Nobody had heard of him when we signed him. I think we beat Santa Barbara for him. But he’s been a good player and he backed up an all-league guy.”
Dixon said the perception was that the Panthers would be weak at the power spots this season. But if Kendall can replicate his performance in this tournament, the Panthers could be solid, with Kendall and 7-foot sophomore Aaron Gray.
The Panthers get back fifth-year senior point guard Carl Krauser and have solid returning guards in Ronald Ramon, Antonio Graves and forwards John DeGroat and Dante Milligan. If Kendall is a legit scorer, the Panthers could be much more of a player in the Big East this season.
I really don’t know how Kendall will ultimately do with Pitt this season. He will get the shot at starting at power forward, but I expect him to be pushed. He will have to be much better on defense to keep the job. Even in the U-21, he often got himself in early foul trouble. My feelings on Pitt, very, very preliminary though they are. This season Pitt will go anywhere from 6-10 to 10-6 in the Big East.
