Nigeria enters uncharted territory when it meets the United States on Wednesday in the women's basketball quarterfinals at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The Nigerians are the first African basketball team, male or female, to reach the quarterfinals in the history of the Summer Games. Nigeria earned the distinction by defeating Canada 79-70 in its final group-stage game. Team USA, which is seeking its eighth consecutive gold medal and riding a 58-game winning streak in the Olympics, beat Japan, Belgium and Germany by an average of 19.3 points during group play.
Tipoff at Accor Arena is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET. The Americans are 27.5-point favorites in the latest USA vs. Nigeria odds, while the over/under for total points is 155.5. Before making any Nigeria vs. USA picks or 2024 Paris Olympics women's basketball predictions, you need to see what SportsLine's Calvin Wetzel has to say.
Wetzel, HerHoopStats.com's lead betting writer, incorporates his mathematical background and strong knowledge of women's hoops to turn the site's prediction model into picks. After teaming up with Aaron Barzilai, a Ph.D. from Stanford, Wetzel is an incredible 1,385-988 (+372.33 units) on women's college basketball picks since the start of the 2021-22 season. He's also coming off a great 2023 season with a 238-185-1 overall record that featured a return on investment of nearly 7%. Anyone following him has seen huge returns.
Now, Wetzel has broken down USA vs. Nigeria from every angle and just revealed his picks and predictions. You can visit SportsLine now to see his picks. Here are the lines and trends for Nigeria vs. USA:
- USA vs. Nigeria spread: USA -27.5
- USA vs. Nigeria over/under: 155.5 points
- USA vs. Nigeria: -50000, Nigeria +3500
- Team USA: The Americans are 75-3 all-time in the Summer Olympics
- Nigeria: The Nigerians went a combined 1-8 in their first two Olympic appearances
- USA vs. Nigeria picks: See picks at SportsLine
Why Team USA can cover
In their lone previous meeting in the Summer Games, Team USA defeated Nigeria by nine points in the group stage at Tokyo in 2020 -- one of only two contests during the Americans' current Olympic winning streak that wasn't a double-digit victory. However, they trounced the Nigerians 100-46 during Olympic Qualifying in Belgium this past February behind a 68-point effort from their bench, with Jewell Loyd leading the charge with a game-high 18 on 7-of-11 shooting.
The U.S., which hasn't lost in Olympic play since dropping a 79-73 decision to the Unified Team in the semifinals of the 1992 Barcelona Games, has been led in this tournament by center A'ja Wilson and forward Breanna Stewart. The 27-year-old Wilson is averaging 20.3 points and began group play with back-to-back double-doubles, recording 24 points and 13 rebounds against Japan before notching 23 and 13, respectively, versus Belgium. Stewart also has produced 20.3 points per contest and led Team USA with 26 against the Belgians, while Jackie Young scored a game-high 19 in the win over Germany. See the picks at SportsLine.
Why Nigeria can cover
Entering the Paris Olympics, African women's teams owned a combined 1-37 record in the Summer Games, with Nigeria's 68-64 triumph over South Korea in the 11th-place game in Athens in 2004 being the lone victory. The Nigerians doubled that total during the group stage of the Paris Games, beating Australia 75-62 in their opener before topping Canada in their finale. Ezinne Kalu led all players with 21 points against the Canadians while Nigeria recorded 16 steals and scored 27 points off turnovers.
A 32-year-old guard who was born and raised in New Jersey, Kalu is averaging 19.3 points in the Paris Olympics. She was not in the lineup against the United States in February, but Nigeria received a solid effort in that contest from Murjanatu Musa, who scored a team-high 13 points. The 24-year-old forward averaged 10.7 points during group play in these Summer Games, scoring 11 while grabbing seven rebounds against Australia before registering 14 and nine versus France. Promise Amukamara, also a New Jersey native whose brother Prince was a Super Bowl champion cornerback with the New York Giants, scored in double figures in two of Nigeria's three group-stage games. See the picks at SportsLine.
How to make United States vs. Nigeria picks
Wetzel has analyzed Nigeria vs. Team USA from every angle, and he's leaning Under on the point total. He has also found a critical X-factor that has him jumping all over one side of the spread. He's sharing what it is, and which side to back, only at SportsLine.
So who wins Team USA vs. Nigeria in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Paris Olympics, and what critical X-factor makes one side of the spread a must-back? Visit SportsLine now to see which side of the Nigeria vs. Team USA spread to jump on, all from the expert with a history of crushing his women's basketball picks, and find out.
