Additional Quotes >> USA U16 Men 105, Brazil 70

June 21, 2011 • Cancun, Mexico

Don Showalter, USA head coach
On tonight’s win:
It’s good to get the first game out of the way. We knew (Brazil was) going to be really good competition. They play basketball very hard. So, getting started the right way really was a big factor for us tonight. We jumped out, played great defense, got some easy baskets in transition. I think you look at our point total and most of them came in the lane off of transition. That’s what we wanted to do. In the second half we probably didn’t play quite as sharp as we needed to be in order to extend that lead, but overall I was pretty pleased with the game.

On the USA’s second quarter:
We get on a roll, we get some steals and our defense dictates our offense. They tried to press us a little bit in the second quarter and we took advantage of the press. I would venture to say that most teams are going to have a hard time pressing us. If they do, we need to take advantage of it like we did tonight.

What do you need to do to keep up the intensity the entire game after jumping out to a big lead?
To get the first game out of the way against a pretty good team was huge for us. I think we can kind of clean up some things that in the second half we needed to clean up. We had too many turnovers in the second half. We didn’t outrebound like I thought we might. We outrebounded them by nine and I thought we should have outrebounded them by more than that.

But again, Brazil’s a very good team and it goes both ways. You really have to battle those teams because they don’t quit and Brazil showed that tonight.

NOTE: For more Showalter quotes, be sure to view the video interview.

Aaron Gordon (Archbishop Mitty H.S. / San Jose, Calif.)
How did it feel to be playing in your first game for USA Basketball?
I was a little nervous, I’m not going to lie. To get out there, having the USA jersey on, under the lights … I just need to realize that it’s just basketball. It’s just a game and I needed to play my game.

On the USA’s second quarter:
It was just tenacious defense. We don’t really look at stats at all, we just have to play our hearts out all the time.

The team seemed to let up a little in the second half, was it due to the 33-point halftime lead?
I do think we got a little lax, because we saw the scoreboard. We just need to play like it’s zero-zero all the time and that’s going to make us a great team.

On the play of Jabari Parker:
Jabari went off! If he does that for us every game, it’s going to be hard for us to lose.

Is there anything you’d like to improve  upon in tomorrow’s game?
I think I need to hold up my end on scoring and rebounding more in the next game.

Stanley Johnson (Mater Dei H.S. / Fullerton, Calif.)
How did it feel to be playing in your first game for USA Basketball?
It was really intense during warm-ups. I was really ready to play, it was a lot of fun. After that first bell rang, I was ready to go. I was really excited to play for the USA for the first time.

On the second quarter:
We really tightened it up in the second quarter. We switched up defenses, the coaches switched up our defense. We played with a lot of heart and played really hard in the second quarter.

How important is it to put together 40 good minutes?
It’s always very important. We can work hard for three quarters and then the last quarter get lax and lose the game after putting all that work. We need to make sure we put four quarters together, win every quarter.

On the overall team effort:
Theo (Pinson) was hurt, but he was really encouraging on the bench. J3 (Johnathan Williams) did really good off the bench, Aaron (Gordon) did really good, Jahlil (Okafor) did great, Jabari just played phenomenally, Larry (Austin) did a good job running the team and so did Tyus (Jones). Everyone played really well tonight.

Any adjustments for Argentina tomorrow, especially if you get a large lead like you had today, so that your second half is just as good as the first?
When we get up by 20, 30, we just have to keep on them and get up by 40, 50. No let-up, no break, nothing. Keep playing like we’re down.

Jahlil Okafor (Whitney Young H.S. / Chicago, Ill.)
On Brazi’s team:
They were better than I expected. They were real skilled. They played basketball hard, just like us.

What was it like playing in your first game for USA Basketball?
It was great. You could tell that we had a lot of practice. We played well as a team. We did almost everything that coach said to do.

Brazil got some confidence in the second half and put together an 11-0 run. What happed to the USA’s defense?
We were up by like 30 at halftime and everybody pretty much thought we were in a zone, that we had it, that we were better than them. We need to work on that next time.

On the USA’s overall team effort:
Jabari Parker played really well. He started us off. Larry Austin played really hard at the point guard position, had a bunch of steals. He messed up their flow on offense. Aaron Gordon had bunch of offensive rebounds. A lot of guys played well.

Are you looking forward to your game tomorrow night against Argentina?
Yeah, I can’t wait.

Jabari Parker (Simeon High School / Chicago, Ill.)
On his game and setting a new USA record at this event:
I just felt in the zone. Once I got it, I felt very aggressive. My teammates were feeding me out on the wing and I was able to finish. Nobody told me (about breaking the record). Once you’re in the zone, you don’t recognize anything. I’m very thankful and very honored to have that achievement.

How good was it to play your first game after all the training you’ve done?
It’s real good, because having the first victory is always good. Getting out there and being aggressive, getting the first win is always good.

On the second quarter:
Everybody’s just got their jobs on defense. Everybody had a role stopping their defenders. It just felt good.

NOTE: For more Parker quotes, be sure to view the video interview.