Mexico City – The crowd that turned out for Canada’s game against Cuba at the Palacia De Los Deportes was a sparse one. Friends and family mostly.

The result was a rare opportunity to listen to what Canadian head coach Jay Triano was actually exhorting his team to do over the course of their 101-59 romping against an overmatched Cuban team new to this level of international play.

And over and over again Triano said simply: “Let’s go.”

Those words rang out on every defensive rebound Canada corralled and every loose ball they pounced on and after every steal, deflection or blocked shot.

The message was clear: be the team that struck first, that forced the action, that dictated the pace. Be the opposite of the group that showed up flat and lacking direction in their opening game loss to Argentina, in other words.

And the best part was who was listening. Andrew Wiggins didn’t play poorly in Canada’s lost to Argentina – he tied for the team lead with 13 points. He rebounded well, he passed the ball. But he wasn’t impactful for the whole of his 30 minutes of floor time, and Canada needed more from their best player.

Wiggins went toe-to-toe with LeBron James twice during his rookie season with the Minnesota Timberwolves and more than held his own, so it’s not the opponent that matters in his case, it’s how quickly he’s going to engage in whatever game happens to be in front of him. He hesitated against Argentina, he went for the throat against Cuba.

He had three offensive rebounds before the game was five minutes old. He blocked a shot, made a steal and counted an assist. It was the most effective kind of leadership.

“I was trying to set the tone, trying to go hard in the first quarter, trying to give the whole team momentum going into the rest of the game,” he said. “… if [the ball] is there, go get it.”

No one was happier to see Wiggins come to play than Canadian head coach Jay Triano. He’s tried to sound diplomatic and imply that his team is a collection of equals, but Wiggins is more equal than others, and Canada is better when he plays that way.

“Andrew is going to be a guy we need to play well, we need to be a focus for us, offensively, for sure,” said Triano. “He’s proved he can do it in the NBA, we need him to be the focal point of what we’re doing and when we do that other teams are going to have problems, he’s going to be able to find other players and we’ve got natural players at other positions that will find ways to score.

“If Andrew is going to stand on the perimeter and shoot, that’s not going to help us. We need him to play the way he played today. That was a great first quarter for him, attacking the basket, looking to get offensive rebounds which he’s very good at and he was the best player on the floor in the first quarter.”

It was clear that their loss to Argentina was a wake-up call, and Canada responded the only reasonable way they could. It wasn’t just the loss that stung Canada, but it was the way they allowed Argentina to decide how the game would be played. Canada beat the giants of FIBA Americas at the Pan Am Games and again last week at the Tuto Marchand Cup, but couldn’t dictate the terms on Tuesday when it mattered.

“We played ‘em I think twice this summer already,” said Anthony Bennett, who had nine points and four rebounds against Cuba. “We kind of took that for granted, I think we kind of came out soft, actually.”

So their game against Cuba wasn’t so much a test of will as a chance to test their philosophy. Coming into the game Cuba had lost by 21 points to Venezuela and 30 to Puerto Rico. Only a colossal malfunction could result in Canada losing, so the question became how would they win?

Wiggins answered it. The Canadian star was mostly absent against Argentina apart from a few brief flurries. To his credit he made his presence felt early and he did it by doing the dirty work. Canada was up 17-5 by the time he scored his third put-back. They were up 30-10 at the end of the first quarter. Wiggins played eight minutes and sat down with 10 points, five rebounds, a block, a steal and an assist, the bulk of his production for the game.

It’s unlikely Canada’s most talented player will ever be a rah-rah leader – it’s not his nature. But when your best player honours an overmatched opponent by going for rebounds, steals and blocks, it’s a tone-setter.

There could have been no other result, really.

While Cuba has its own proud basketball history dating back to the early 1970s when they were bronze medallists at the 1972 Olympics, they have been a minnow lately. Their last Olympic appearance was 1980 and their last world championship appearance was in 1994, when they finished 15th. This is their first showing at the FIBA Americas Championship since 2011. They entered the game 0-2 and coming off a 31-point loss to Puerto Rico there was little chance for an upset, a loss that would put Canada in a terrible spot as they try to position themselves to advance into the second round.

Canada’s win – funny enough – doesn’t mean all that much either, even though it did ensure them a spot in the second round. But that was a formality anyway as four of the five teams in Group B will move on.The way the FIBA Americas competition is structured means that points earned in the first round will carry forward into the second round where Canada will play the top-four teams from Group A, but only points earned against the other teams that advance from Group B will count.

The two points from the win against Cuba won’t count because they won’t advance. At the moment Canada only has the point they got for their loss to Argentina to show for two games here. The challenge for Canada will come against Venezuela on Thursday and Puerto Rico on Friday. Presuming they advance Canada needs four points from those two games to avoid having to completely swim uphill as they try to position themselves for one of the four spots in the medal round.

What Canada showed against Cuba was a template for how they want to play in ideal conditions, and what they displayed was exciting – a team that swarms defensively, rebounds like a gang and looks to push the ball at every chance and plays an unselfish brand of basketball. If anything over-passing was a problem, as when Kelly Olynyk tried to find Wiggins for a highlight real alley-oop to finish a fastbreak in the second quarter rather than take an easy two himself, or sharp-shooter Nik Stauskas passed up open triples – the kind of shots the offence should be aspiring to create – so his teammates could get the ball. Well-intended to be sure, but anytime Stauskas passes up a wide-open three for anything other than a dunk, the next shot is not as good as what Canada had. Canada needs Stauskas to carry a heavy load – he’s the perfect complement to Wiggins – so the hope is his 15 points, six rebounds and four assists are signs he’s beginning to feel comfortable in that role. He’s struggled with his shot this summer, which has hurt his confidence, but he’s showing signs of breaking out.

“My confidence has steadily been getting back,” he said. “The coaching staff and players have done a good job of encouraging me, even when I haven’t been playing my best. It’s just up to me to stay aggressive. This team needs me to make plays, needs me to be aggressive on the floor, and that’s what I’m trying to do.”

There are certainly kinks to work out. As much as they dominated Canada shot just 48 per cent from the field and just 35 per cent from behind the three-point line – that latter mark will certainly have to improve if Canada is going to reach their goal of qualifying for the Olympics next summer.

But Canada showed how they want to play in their blowout against Cuba, now they just have to keep it going.