Nathan Yu and Team Canada will be underdogs when they face Serbia, the defending champions, for gold in men's basketball Monday at the Summer Universiade in Shenzhen, China.
An audience of 20,000, including former NBA star Yao Ming, is expected to pack the building to watch the final, and Yu, whose father was born and raised in China, has a feeling that crowd will be cheering for Canada.
"It's pretty crazy what's going on here, I don't think it's really hit us how much of an impact we've made getting to the final because nobody expected us to be here," said Yu, 22, a fifth-year UBC guard who grew up in Prince George.
"I think everyone is cheering for the underdogs right now and I hope we'll have the crowd behind us, I'm the only Chinese person left on the court," he laughed. "Hopefully we'll come back with gold and it will be a perfect script."
Tyson Hinz of Ottawa hit for 21 points to lead Canada to an 83-68 semifinal win over Lithuania on Sunday, giving Canada a shot at gold for the first time since 1997.
"We played solid defence pretty much the whole game and had a 15-point cushion it felt like the whole game," said Yu. "Boris Bakovic was hitting shots in the first quarter and Tyson Hinz, our leading scorer for the tournament, keeps on playing well. It was just a good team effort again."
Yu was held to four points, all from free throws, but his tight checking in 30 minutes of playing time at point guard held Lithuanian guard Matas Sapegia off the scoreboard.
"I haven't been shooting the ball well at all and it's been awesome that these guys can do the scoring and I'm just there for defence and running the ball up and running the offence," Yu said. "It's going to be tough beating Serbia, but we're ready for the challenge."
Hinz continued to be Canada's go-to scorer with his third 20-plus point performance of the tournament. Lithuania held the reigning CIS player of the year from Carleton to just five points in the first half before he lit it up in the second, finishing the 6-for-14 from the field.
In the quarterfinals Saturday, Yu finished with five points, four assists and five steals as Canada defeated Romania 71-58, while Lithuania pulled off a stunning 74-72 win over the United States.
"We'd be lying is we said that didn't take pressure off us that we didn't have to play the USA in the semis," said Yu. "They're a pretty athletic team and we knew we could play with Lithuania [Canada tied Lithuania 72-72 in exhibition play]
Yu's Chinese background has drawn the attention of the media covering Universiade and he is scheduled to be interviewed on national TV in China early Monday.
"That'll be kind of intense," Yu said. "This game is going all over the world [on TV and Internet broadcasts]. We're all pretty excited right now, tomorrow is going to be crazy.
"My dad [Simon] is having the time of his life. Even in a crowd of 18,000 people I can still hear him. I think he got me this interview for Chinese national television."
The defending-champion Serbs beat Russia 81-61 in the other semifinal. Canada defeated Serbia 70-67 on Day 2 of the tournament. Both teams are 5-1.
"We are, by far, the fastest team here and we just have to keep pushing the ball up and it will play out from there," said Yu. "We just have to stop their shooters, they have two professional players who are lights-out shooters and they have six-foot-nine posts who can also shoot, so it's all about contesting their shots and boxing out and rebounding."
The game will be webcast live on www.livefisu.tv starting Monday at 6:30 a.m. PT.
The Canadian women's basketball team finished sixth after a 71-52 loss to Russia on Sunday.
In women's soccer, Canada (4-2) beat Russia 1-0 to finish fifth, matching its best-ever Universiade result. Gillian Baggott of Ottawa scored the game's lone goal in the 52nd minute, while 'keeper Rachel Bedek of St. Thomas, Ont., earned the shutout.
Kate Van Buskirk of Brampton, Ont., was 10th in the women's 1,500 metres on the final day of track and field. Canada's track and field team was kept off the podium at the Universiade Center Stadium.
-- with files from The Canadian Press
