Teenaged point guard Andrew Nembhard quietly shining for Canada’s senior squad

TORONTO — Teen phenom R.J. Barrett made a huge splash in his national senior basketball team debut.  

But partly lost in Barrett’s big shadow was the play of his friend and fellow 18-year-old Andrew Nembhard.

Moments after Canada’s 97-61 rout of the Dominican Republic in Friday’s World Cup qualifying game, head coach Jay Triano was singing the praises of the team’s backup point guard. 

“Andrew just seems unfazed about anything out there,” Triano said. “He guards well, controls the offence, the ball moves when he’s out there, he’s a true point guard.

“I really don’t think unless you looked at their birth certificate that you would know that they’re teenagers playing the way that they do right now,” he added on the two youngsters.

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Canada (4-1) closes out the first round of qualifying against overmatched U.S. Virgin Islands on Monday in Ottawa, and need only a win to clinch first place in its group.

Nembhard, from Aurora, Ont., and Barrett, from Mississauga, Ont., will undoubtedly see significant playing time in the game at TD Place.

Triano said he kept a close eye on Nembhard at the recent U18 FIBA Americas tournament in St. Catharines. And when a family commitment kept Indiana Pacers guard Cory Joseph from playing in Canada’s pair of exhibition wins over China in Vancouver, Triano brought Nembhard along.

“I said, ‘You know, we need to bring this kid up. No. 1, because he’s good. No. 2 because we’re going to be down a point guard.’

“He played excellent (in St. Catharines). Then we had to play China, against men, and he was even better, arguably one of our better players in those two games. He’s got a great future ahead of him. You found out tonight but we found out a week ago the kid’s special.”

Nembhard and Barrett were teammates at Florida’s Montverde Academy, leading the high school to a perfect 35-0 regular-season record and a U.S. national title. The spectacular season came after Nembhard was sidelined with a serious illness in the spring of his junior season. He spent time in hospital before heading home to Canada to recover.

The baby-faced six-foot-three guard has clearly bounced back stronger than ever.

“Andrew, I’d seen play a couple times. I know his pops,” Joseph said. “He’s really impressed me. His decision-making is good. He’s been playing really good. He’s been holding down that point guard spot really well.”

The Canadians, including five NBA players, have raved about the opportunity to play meaningful games at home, with a feeling of pride that Joseph hopes will be contagious. The former Toronto Raptors guard couldn’t help but marvel at the talented team Canada could assemble for the World Cup in China in September of 2019.

“We’ve got to turn that ‘what if’ to making it happen. There have been a lot of ‘what ifs’ for a lot of years now,” said Joseph, who’d never played a national senior game at home before Friday. “There’s a lot of talent here. We’ve just got to put it together.” 

Monday’s matinee, meanwhile, is also a homecoming of sorts for former Carleton stars Phil and Thomas Scrubb.

The Canadians hope for a better turnout than the sparse crowd that cheered them on Friday. A little more than half of Ricoh Coliseum’s 7,700 seats were filled.

“The opportunity doesn’t come very often,” Kelly Olynyk said. “Hopefully it will come more now with this new format, it brings back to the country we’re from, and we can give back to these fans who’ve supported us our whole lives, and the country that’s given us the opportunities to do what we do away from it. It’s special.”

“Hopefully there are some young kids here and they’ll be inspired to have the same ambitions that we had when we were their age and hopefully there is more to come.”

After Monday’s final buzzer sounds, the Canadians will then split up, and head to their various clubs or schools abroad — Barrett to Duke and Nembhard to the Florida Gators.

The second round of qualifying sees games in September, November and February. The World Cup is the main qualifying event for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Canada’s men’s team hasn’t made an Olympic appearance since 2000 in Sydney.

Lori Ewing, The Canadian Press