XIAMEN, China – As Camilla Neumann from the University of Vienna beat the buzzer against Tsinghua University of China, her teammates broke into ecstatic celebrations for having won both their matches of the day and defeating the defending champions.
On the second day of competition at the University World Cup – 3×3, Camilla and her younger sibling Annika led Vienna in a neck-and-neck contest against the top rated team from China. With 12 seconds left on the clock, the game was tied at 14-14 but just eight seconds later Tsinghua University took a slim 16-15 lead. It looked to be all over for Vienna when Camilla Neumann pulled off a stunning buzzer beater and sent her teammates into ecstatic celebrations over the 17:16 scoreline.
“Tsinghua is a great team and we went into the game with a lot of respect for our opponents,” said Camilla Neumann (right) after the game. “But we were luckier than them.”
“This is why we love 3×3,” she added. “Because anything is possible!”
It was the second win of the day for University of Vienna in Pool B play, having registered an emphatic 16:9 win over University of Taipei earlier in the day.
Anja Fuchs-Robetin was a key playmaker in that game, during which Vienna expertly used height advantage to block attacks from the Taipei players.
“We played a very physically tough game,” said Fuchs-Robetin about their tactics. “I’m glad we’ve got the wins. And the great atmosphere made it even nicer because of the big crowd and a lot of fans.”
In the men’s Pool D action, Uganda Christian University pulled off a cliffhanger over University of Otago, as Fayed Baale scored the winner with 4 seconds left on the clock. It was a disappointing loss for the highly rated team from New Zealand, but they made up for it with a dominant performance later in the day as they beat their Oceania rivals Macquarie University of Sydney, 21:11.
Pool D in the men’s field is evenly poised with all four teams registering one win and one loss each. Pool B, on the other hand, had a clear big winner with University of Chile winning both their games, over Fu Jen Catholic University of Taipei and Paulista University of Brazil.
In the match against Fu Jen Catholic University, Chile was the first to score and never looked back. Their team worked as a unit, scored frequently, and widened the gap to 10 points halfway through the match. Fu Jen’s attack was fierce, but some inaccurate shooting let them down. The University of Chile won the game 21-8.
Earlier, Brazil’s Paulista University had started with a win in what was the first match of the day in the men’s competition. Their opponents, University of Colorado (USA) scored the first points of the game with a free-throw, but after that it was all Paulista, who won 18:13.
“We’ve trained together professionally, over the years,” said William Weihermann about his team. “We’re together every day and most teams don’t train like we do. So that’s the result of hard work.”
Despite the victory, he added that he thought they could have done better. “We didn’t play very well, we didn’t defend very well like we should. We didn’t get to 21 points as we were supposed to. But the victory is important. We will be better in the next game.”
The University World Cup – 3×3 continues on Day 3 with all teams in action, looking to get to the knockouts. Matches will be streamed live on FISU.TV as will the Shootout and Slam Dunk contests that are taking place on the sidelines of the main competition on Saturday, at 12:40 GMT and 12:55 GMT respectively. The women’s final will start at 09:15 GMT on Sunday, 3 November and the men’s final will follow at 09:40. Direct links to all days’ live action can be found here. All results can be found here and below.
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