Preview >> USA Men Set To Take On Tunisia
Related Images
Next up for the USA men is Tunisia. Tunisia dropped its first ever Olympic game 60-56 to African rival Nigeria ... After trailing wire-to-wire against Nigeria, if Tunisia holds a lead against the U.S., it will be its first lead in Olympic competition.
Get prepared for today's game with our preview.
Scouting Report:
 |
Chris Collins (U.S. workout coach/scout & Duke University assistant coach)
What are your expectations for Tunisia?
Tunisia’s a team that talent-wise they don’t match up with a lot of the teams that are here in the Olympics, but they make up for it with their effort. They’re a scrappy team. In their first game against Nigeria, they had 15 points at halftime and they were down by 20 points. They just never gave up. They kept scrapping. They kept fighting, ended up cutting the lead to two. So, they’re going to play hard. This is the first time they’ve ever been in the Olympics. This is a huge thing for their country.
It’s more about us being able to match their effort level, and if we do, we should have a lot of success.
Are there any particular players that stood out to you?
They’ve had a number of guys that have stepped up at different times. Their best player is (Makram) Ben Romdhane, a big man, very active on the boards – their most athletic player. He had 12 points and 12 rebounds in their game (Sunday). Obviously, he’s going to have to be a guy to keep an eye on. They have a number of guys that if you let them have their feet set, they can hit threes, and that’s how they got back in the game (Sunday)
against Nigeria. That’s what we’re going to have to do a great job of is
taking away their open 3-point shots.
What are the keys to the game for the USA?
I think it’s a lot about us. We’re going to be bigger than them. We’re
more athletic. Obviously, more talented. We need to come focused and ready to play. It’s going to be about our preparation and our effort-level … hopefully making it a fast-paced game and an athletic game … not letting them dictate the tempo. They’re going to try to hold the ball until the end of clocks, get open shots and lull us into a slower game. If we can come out and impose our will early, then we should have a lot of success.
Practice Quotes:
 |
How do you prepare your team for a team like Tunisia, one that’s not as talented?
The main thing is that it’s about our performance. We should beat Tunisia, but we want to play well against Tunisia. When you play games in your pool where you’re a significant favorite, you don’t want to win, you want to maintain and build good habits. So, we don’t want to overlook anybody because then we overlook ourselves. In a short period of time you can fall into a bad habit that will have its impact on a game where you’re not a significant favorite.
One of Tunisia’s players said the USA was beatable, what do you think about that?
I think any competitor would say that another team’s beatable because they’re in it to win. I take that in a very positive way, of confidence in their team. The fact that they think they’re going to get better, and we showed at times in the game yesterday that they were better than we were. They just weren’t better than we were the entire game. So, that’s fine. We also feel we can beat anybody. What other people think is not too much significance. It’s how we think and how we prepare.
What’s the biggest adjustment for international play?
It’s just the nuances of the game. How hard you can set a screen? How much hands can you have on somebody in guarding them? Can you roll into somebody after setting a screen? All those things … the game is called the same, but it’s administered differently. It’s beautiful in each setting. It’s like clay to grass to hard court. You have to be adaptable to it because the surface isn’t going to change.
 |
There is a ton of pressure on this team. How do you deal with that?
We don’t think about that. We’re here, that’s the only thing we are focusing on. We’re not really too concerned about the pressure that we have. We are just going out there and playing ball.
How are you gelling as a team?
We’re great. We are fine. Each day we get better and better, and we’ll continue getting better every day.
Can you comment of the schedule of this tournament – game day, practice day, game day, practice day?
As far as playing a game every other day and resting one day, we are used to that. We played back-to-backs last season, we played three games in three nights. We have time to get some rest. But we utilize our days off really well. Coach K does a great job of knowing the guys on the team, knowing the players and figuring out what’s right and what’s not right for us. At the end of the day, we all are professionals, so we know our bodies. We know what we can take; we know what we can’t take. He’s good with that.
 |
What’s your sense of how Anthony Davis is feeling his way around this group?
He’s a great kid. He’s a great kid with a great personality. He’s willing to learn. That’s what you always look at as a veteran looking at a rookie. You want to feel like you can help him. You want to feel like he can be coached and he’s willing to learn. That’s his biggest quality: he’s willing to learn.
Can you give me an example of that?
Whenever I’m off the court and he’s on the court, I’m watching him because I’m only going to be around him for this short period of time and I want to be able to help him as much as I can. So, while he’s on the floor and I see that he’s done something wrong I’ll pull him to the side and let him know how things are going to be and what he’s going to see next year in the league to better prepare himself. He’s always paying attention, taking information and wanting to learn.
Do you learn from being around these guys?
We take different things from one another. It’s not just about talking to each other and helping each other out. It’s also individually, on the sidelines I can watch certain things that LeBron does, or I watch something from Kevin Love, Carmelo, the way they score the ball, and apply it to your own game.
Was that the case for you in 2010?
Absolutely. Having the opportunity to play with the best players and learn from some of the best coaches in the world makes a huge difference. It makes a huge difference for you confidence-wise, and you apply that to your season.
 |
What’s been the best part so far?
… I go down the street, little bit around the corner, and I run into a kid, and he was so excited to see me, but he wasn’t from America so it was weird. He was like, ‘Andre Iguodala!’ It was crazy, and it was too late for him to be out, but he was with his parents, so we just chatted a little. That was good.
What are you most looking forward to:
I’m looking forward to the games, going through the experience. Hanging out with the guys is a lot of fun.
Can you comment of the schedule of this tournament – game day, practice day, game day, practice day?
It’s kind of like the playoffs a little bit, where you have a playoff game and then the next day you go through film, review what you can improve upon, things that are working for you that you want to stay on top of. It’s a good mix and match of how our season is.
 |
On his playing time and being bummed about it after the Spain exhibition contest:
I don’t think bummed is the right word. I was just a little confused. I was working so hard to be in this position to make a big impact on this team. In 2010 I think I only played eight or nine minutes per game. For me to go out there and be a part of this team, no matter how big or how little the role, I’m going to go out there and do it. I think everybody on this team, like coach said, has a chance where they can come in and be a big spark for us, whether it’s off the bench or in the starting line-up.
Is the team better off when you’re playing off the bench?
Yeah, and I think coach believes that, too. I believe that, and I think the whole team does. If anything, if a guy like James Harden can come off when a team goes zone and hit two, three, four 3s in a row, he can be a big spark off the bench. So, it’s not only me, but if I think if everybody’s playing at a high level, including myself, because my game is very effective in the NBA, but also translates over here, that it’s going to help the team.
What do you know about Tunisia?
Not much. We haven’t gone over their film yet. We just went over some of our stuff today, but we’ll go over their sets today in practice. We’ll go over their personnel tomorrow. Then we’ll know a lot more about them, but not too much yet at this point.
Did you feel any different when you stepped out on the court yesterday for your first Olympic game?
Oh yeah. It’s a whole different playing field. The Olympics are far different than the friendly games that we played, and we know that we have to play well in pool play and also when it comes down to the medal rounds, it’s going to be single elimination. It’s one and done. So, we need to do whatever we can to prepare ourselves for that. It started yesterday and continues tomorrow with Tunisia.
USABasketball.com is part of the NBA network of websites.