A'ja Wilson stats today: How did Team USA star center fare against Australia?

Modified Aug 09, 2024 17:07 GMT

A'ja Wilson has been dominant this season for Team USA with her combination of efficient post-production and an imposing defensive presence. She is coming off a double-double outing (20 points, 9-of-11 FG and 11 rebounds) against Nigeria in the semifinal game. She put up 20 points (9-of-11 shooting) and 11 rebounds.

In Team USA's 85-64 win against Australia, the Las Vegas Aces star put up 10 points (5-of-7 shooting) and eight rebounds with four blocks in a stacked stat line. It was a dominant showing for Team USA against Australia and Wilson is doing just about anything that her unit needs from her.

Player	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO
A'ja Wilson	10	8	1	2	4	1

It wasn’t the explosive offensive in the first half, which shows that fans have grown accustomed to A’ja Wilson. She converted her first buck at the 6:45 mark with a mid-range jumper to improve her team’s lead to 16. Wilson then followed her efforts at the scoring column by converting on a fastbreak lay-up attempt with 3:55 minutes remaining.

In the second half, she made her first bucket inside the paint at the 8:17 mark off a nice dime from her Aces teammate Jackie Young. With her team continuing to open the game up with complete momentum in the third quarter, it didn’t take long before A'ja Wilson reached a double-digit scoring output at 10 points.

It was a dominant showing for USA Basketball in the third quarter which led to the bench unit taking the majority of minutes on the court in the last stretch of the game. When the team's second unit looked effective in maintaining the lead, that wrapped up Wilson's night.

They are now headed to the gold medal game of the Paris 2024 Olympics with an opportunity to win their eighth consecutive gold.

A'ja Wilson talked about getting advised by one of the Olympic officials to tone her emotions down

During USA Basketball's Group Play game against Belgium, one of the officials told Wilson that she had to keep her emotions in check. In response, A'ja Wilson was confused with the advice and instead chose to remain the same kind of player on the court, as per Associate Press' Doug Feinberg.

"I need to, get my emotions in check [he said], and I think that just heightened my emotions even more, because I'm like, 'How are you going to tell me at my job that I can't show emotion, passion?' So I keep my cool. I continued being me. I keep my cool by understanding who I am and who I have around me, and don't look back and just keep going," Wilson said.

Wilson looks to lead her teammates effectively at both ends. Aside from putting up incredible numbers on the board, A'ja Wilson prefers to do it loudly as it gets her and her teammates going.