Additional Quotes >> USA 112, Egypt 55

- Game Story - Box Score

USA head coach Jamie Dixon, University of Pittsburgh

About today's game:
We handled things well today. We knew this was a game that we should win. What I was impressed with was the focus and determination we showed today.

One of our goals was to finish the preliminary round with our group's No. 1 seed and we achieved that today.  Another goal of ours is to continue to improve throughout the tournament and over the last two games I think we have, especially defensively.

ASHTON GIBBS (Pittsburgh / Scotch Plains, N.J.)

You seemed to get into a good grove early and it was more of a run and gun type of game?
Yeah it was more of a run and gun game. We just took advantage of the transition offense that they gave us and we got a lot of easy basket and went from there.

Was this a good way to go out of the first round?
Yeah, it was great way to go out. We played well and we're a good team if we just play hard.

You get a day off and then you've got get going in the second round that will feature some tougher teams.
Yeah, we've got some tougher teams going into the second round and now you have to step it up a notch, play harder and execute even more.

Do you feel like the team is continuing to develop and gel?
Yeah, we're building more and more chemistry as the tournament goes on and that 's what winning tournament is about and to win championships you've got to keep that up.

SHELVIN MACK (Butler / Lexington, Ky.)

This game was a lot more up and down the floor then yesterday's versus France.
It was pretty fun and exciting. We went out there and took care of business and didn't overlook our opponent. We're just trying to take it one game at a time.

Defensively the USA seemed to dominate Egypt.
It's easier to get up and down the court more when you get stops on the defensive end, your defense leads to easy transition buckets on offense.

The team is 3-0 now, how do you think they're looking?
I think we're looking pretty good, but we know it's not over, we still have a long way to go and we need to take it one game at a time.

KLAY THOMPSON (Washington State / Ladera Ranch, Calif.)

The game today obviously was a lot different tempo then yesterday's game versus France. Was it a fun game to play?
Yeah it was, it always will be when you score 112 points. I thought we were just making shots today and we had the floor well spread and everybody got open looks so it was fun.

This was a good way to wrap up the pre,preliminary round wasn't it?
Oh yeah, especially with a big win like this. We came out and went 100 percent and going 3-0 was a great feeling.

The next round will be three tougher games and a little more in intense.
I think we're looking forward to it. We want to play the best so we're looking forward it and we'll be ready.

Seems like again everyone was getting good shots and involved.
We're really balanced, we've got 12 good players which makes us tough to beat I think.

HOWARD THOMPKINS (Georgia / Lithonia, Ga.)

Everyone seems to be enjoying the game today. Was it a good way to go out of the preliminary round?
It's a blessing for us to be playing the way we are right now because we have a couple of people being sick and a couple of guys being injured, but we're just toughen through it and we're getting through it as a team.

Now it's on to the next round, you'll have to step it up a little more as the competition will be more intense.
Definitely. We're going to have to step it up but at the same time we have a high level of confidence in our ability to play as a team, to make shots, rebound. We understand that the competition is going to be stiff but at the same time we're going to come with everything we have.

It seems like defense fuels this team because it gets the transition game going?
Definitely. That's the most important thing to our coaching staff and it's become the most important thing to our team. We take pride in our defense and we get mad at each other when we don't make defensive assignments and it's become a big deal to us.

How would you evaluate your performance in today's game?
Well, I just find myself to be more aggressive, just play as hard as I can for as long as I can and give my team everything I have and that's what I did.