Nico Mannion, Italy to face France in Olympic quarterfinals

Nico Mannion and Italy will face France in the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday after the matchups were determined in the final phase drawing.

Italy finished 2-1 in preliminary play to advance out of Group B, along with Australia (3-0) and Germany (1-2). They defeated Germany to open the Tokyo Olympics before falling to Australia and beating Nigeria on Saturday to move onto the knockout round.

Simone Fontecchio led the Italians with 18 points per game during the group phase while Mannion averaged 15 points, five assists and 2.3 rebounds during their three contests. Fontecchio finished seventh in scoring with Mannion 15th among all players.

Italy earned a ticket to Tokyo after winning the qualifying tournament last month from Belgrade, Serbia. Mannion played a key role for Italy in winning the qualifying tournament, averaging 17.7 points, four assists and 1.7 rebounds per game.

The appearance by Italy in the Olympics is their first since 2004 when they finished with the silver medal in the Athens Games, and their fifth consecutive time reaching the quarterfinals.

Italy and France will tip off on Tuesday at 4:20 a.m. EDT.

This post originally appeared on Rookie Wire! Follow us on Facebook!

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