Additional Quotes >> Mexico 71, USA 55

Oct. 29, 2011 • Guadalajara, Mexico

Nate Tibbetts
USA head coach

Your thoughts about the game?
It was a highly competitive game, a great atmosphere, both teams really competed. Mexico just kept coming at us/ We didn’t make shot when we needed to and they kept going, Mexico played a really good game.

Your team played great defense but had problems getting points.
I’m really proud of our guys’ effort, but we had trouble scoring tonight.

What is the future of using NBA Development League players for national teams?
I don’t know for sure. I know as a staff and I know our players are thankful about the opportunity. This is a great opportunity for them to play against great players from Mexico in this environment, and I’m sure they’ve had a lot of fun with it.

Now you go for the bronze medal.
We’ve got to bounce back, obviously we’re disappointed just like anyone would be. But tomorrow’s game is a big game for us, we have an opportunity to win a bronze medal and not a lot of people can say they won a bronze medal.

Can you talk about the environment at the arena today?
That was a high intensity atmosphere. Mexico has done an excellent job putting thus on, and this was a great setting for a game. As players and coaches you love to go in and play the host team in a big game and you have to take your hat off to Mexico, they really kept coming at us. But I was proud of our guys’ effort.

You mentioned that scoring was difficult, but you seemed to get looks:
We had good looks, some days it goes in, some days it doesn’t. I thought our execution was better than yesterday, I thought we made a good step there. They play really physical defense and I don’t know if it bothered us, but we did have some good looks, they just didn’t go in.

You have to regroup for tomorrow’s bronze medal game, these guys are pros, do you count on that in getting them ready to play?
We’ve got to have a lot of pride tomorrow, obviously we’re all disappointed, but tomorrow is a big day for all of us. We have an opportunity to win a bronze medal and not a lot of people can say they had that opportunity. I believe in our guys, we’re pros and we’ve got have the ability to bounce back.

It seemed like you weren’t getting a lot of transitions look, why was that?
I thought in the first quarter we got out and ran a little bit when we got the rebound, and I don’t know if four games in four days caught up to us a little bit, but obviously other team knows speed is one of our strengths and Mexico did a great job in transition defense.

Jerome Dyson
(Tulsa 66ers / Connecticut '10)

It seemed like this was physical game; was it more physical than the other three games?
It was definitely more physical. They were allowing them to be physical with us and we weren’t really allowed to be physical with them. They got into us and pressured us and they got us out of our offense and so it was hard for us to move the ball.

It was a tough night shooting, it seemed like shots just weren’t falling?
It was a real tough night for us shooting. We just couldn’t get our offense going, we didn’t have any easy shots.

What do you have to do to regroup, what has to be different?
We’ve just got to come in with a different mindset and come out and play harder. I think we get kind of comfortable there in the first half all the time and then we try and turn it up in the second half and that’s not always going to work. We saw that last night and we saw it again today.

What would it mean to you to return home with the bronze medal?
It would still be an honor. Coming here and getting a medal would be a good thing no matter which one it is. We would have loved to have won gold but going away with the bronze is still a great thing.

Renaldo Major
(Dakota Wizards / Fresno State '04)

The USA seemed to struggle scoring points today, can you talk about that?
It was just a tough day. We didn’t make many shots and in a game like this you’ve got to make shots. We played great defense the whole four quarters, we just didn’t make shots and that’s what it came down to. We tried to play our best, we played hard, it’s just that we didn’t make shots and they did.

What about the atmosphere?
Even though we lost it was fun, it’s something you can bank some memories on. The crowd was crazy, you love intense environments, that makes you bring out your best, makes you play even harder. It was a great atmosphere and I loved it and I wouldn’t mind playing in here again.

How do you regroup and comeback for the bronze medal game tomorrow?
Oh, just USA pride. Being an American and even though we’re down right now, we can end this on a good note and we want to come home with a medal. Although we wanted the gold, we’ve still got a chance to come home with the bronze and that’s a big thing because not too many teams get to bring home a medal. So we can bring home a medal and we can end on a good note, so this could be a double positive for us.

Gregory Stiemsma
(Sioux Falls Skyforce /Wisconsin '09)

It was a struggle offensively for the U.S. tonight, can you talk about that?
Yeah, it was a battle. This is our fourth game in four days, but not to make excuses, our shots just didn’t seem to go down tonight. They’re a tough team, they played some good defense and were physical and we had a few looks and just didn’t knock ‘em down, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.

It seemed like the USA’s defense was good.
Our defense was pretty good. That’s what we’ve been stressing from the start. We bought into early, got out on them, got out on them quick. That’s a good team. They can put some points up, they’ve got a lot of 3-point shooters and I thought we ran them off the line well, so I thought our defense was there, our shots just didn’t fall.

Did you enjoy today’s game environment?
That’s part of the reason why we play, that’s why we’re still in the game. Whether they’re for you or against you, that atmosphere is fun to play in, the loudness, the passion for the sport, so definitely it was enjoyable.

How does the team regroup?
We’ve just got to brush it off. We came down here for a gold medal and that’s obviously not going to happen but we’ve still got to play with some pride. You know not a lot of people get this opportunity to play for a bronze so we’ve got to take advantage of that. Hopefully we can get some momentum going tomorrow.