Additional Quotes >> USA 88, Greece 80

- Game Story - Box Score

USA Head Coach JAMIE DIXON, University of Pittsburgh

How special is it to take home the gold?
It really feels good, it really feels good. You know this is so unique for us, doing it in the off season, really our summer, and then getting together with a group it's something that you don't normally do. It really is rewarding, especially now. the whole thing has been a great experience. We really set as a goal to win the gold medal. We also made it very clear that we hadn't won this since 1991, we talked about that and we used that as motivation throughout the month we've been together and I think it was really an important part of our work ethic and what we did. We did a great job commiting to one another for a month and I thought it was just great. We had great kids that worked all the way through and committed to getting the gold medal and gave up, sacrificed individual glory.

How special is it for you personally to come to New Zealand where you talked about your coaching career started?
There's no question that makes it even more special. I was just talking to friends, I'm going to see friends tonight that I've known for 20 years and stayed in contact with. There's no question. The reason why I wanted to be part of this and come to New Zealand was because of my fond memories, and friends and the love I have for my two years and my love for this country. I think it is a beautiful place and great people, it has to make it more rewarding and just a great sense of satisfaction to come back down here.

What do you learn as a coach from coaching against team from all around the world like this?
You know it's my first time doing it, but I'll proably learn something after the fact here I think. It's a different style of play, you get used to the rules first off, that was something we really tried to emphasize to our guys in our training camp, but then also style of play,it's a different style of play.

This team was unique as far as U.S. teams. I think it was better suited for international. We may not have had as many name guys as other teams, but I really thought it was suited and I think we selected guys that were suited to the international game and the FIBA rules. We really shot the ball well, we were skilled, we were a good free throw shooting team and I think that was something that was beneficial to us.

What was the key to this game? It was kind of a grind out game.
We got off to a good run. We got off to a 16 point lead at halftime and I thought we played well. In the second half they came out and gave their run. I thought we didn't get as good of a shot as we wanted and they hit a couple of big threes, one was a touch shot, another one was a transition one. You knew they were going to make a run and I think we withstood it pretty well and then kept the separation. We had a number of guys in foul trouble,we had to play through some things.

How proud were you of what this team accomplished?
I think I was very proud because we had a lot of guys who we thought were going to be part of the team and weren't; the roster continued to change, but you knew these guys were the guys that wanted to be here, wanted to be a part of it. It was a team that really improved as the month went on and that's something we talked about doing. We used for motivation the fact that the U.S. hadn't won this event since 1991, we made that very clear to our guys from the beginning. We talked about solely winning a gold medal and only a gold medal would be considered a success and that's not something you really want to do when you haven't won it in 18 years. We set high standards and played towards them.

You said at the beginning that you thought it would have to be a team effort and it seemed like it was.
It was. I don't know how you would pick an MVP with our group. It was everybody, it was 11 guys and I can think of different guys every game. I think every guy had a game where he was probably the player of the game or would have been considered for player of the game and that's what we thought it would be. And that made it fun too, I think that really made it fun. I think every guy knew they were an intricate part of our success and what we did and so they knew that and they played for it and practiced for it.

There's a fine line between winning this tournament and not winning it, isn't there?
Yeah, we had to beat Greece twice, we scrimmaged against Croatia and we had to beat them again, we've got the best record and everybody else had at least two losses and I think that's another thing that's really a key factor. We were the only team that didn't have any losses. I think that speaks to our consistency.

USA Assistant Coach CHRIS LOWERY, Southern Illinois University

What does this gold medal mean to you?
It is a terrific honor. As a kid you watch the Olympics and you dream about representing your country and obviously being able to do it with friends on the coaching staff makes it even better. And now to feel like you are closer to these kids who are not your own players but kids who put everything on the line for the USA. I'm just extremely impressed with how they handled themselves in hostile environment in the championship game. We've got to give credit to our coaching staff. We did it with no egos and that was the biggest thing about why I think we had so much success with these kids is that we just coached them, we didn't worry about where we were head coaches at and I think that won our kids over a lot quicker.

USA Assistant Coach MATT PAINTER, Purdue University

What does this gold medal mean to you after all the work that you put in?
It's just a great honor just to be a part of USA Basketball and to be able to compete for this gold medal. Our guys really sacrificed a lot, and the coaching staff obviously sacrificed a lot of their time, they gave a month up. Our guys just really willed themselves to a victory here. In the gold medal game we had some things go against us and our guys just kept battling and it's just a great accomplishment and great honor to win it.

Does it feel like it makes the whole trip fulfilling?
It's funny because you lose one game here in this mix and then you don't get the gold medal and everybody's disappointed. So being able to finish it and go undefeated and win the gold medal leaves that good taste in your mouth where you can walk away where nobody got the best of you, you got the gold and you really made everybody back home proud of you.

Does it mean more because we haven't won this since 1991?
I think it means a lot more, just to get back, everything Mr. Colangelo talked about to our stay and to our players. Getting America back in that position where you're dominating, winning games, and you're also doing things the right way and playing the right way. We won the gold medal but we also did things the right way and our guys were a class act.

What does this gold medal mean to you?
It's an unbelievable feeling man, we worked so hard. It's been four weeks or however long we've been together and I never thought this day would come because it felt so long, but I feel so blessed right now to be able to win a gold medal.

Does it mean more because we haven't won this since 1991?
It means a lot especially since my brother (Stephen) has been encouraging us to come over here and win for them because they weren't able to get one two years ago. (Note-Seth's brother Stephen was a member of the 2007 USA Basketball U19 World Championship Team finished 8-1 and won the silver medal). So I'm really excited.

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

What does this gold medal mean to you?
It feels great. Being here with these guys for a whole month and just working really hard, Coach Dixon, Coach Lowery, Coach Painter, all these guys, we just had a great time, we worked really hard for it.

Talk about the game?
It was a physical, grind out game. We knew they were a physical team. We played them once before and they played us tough and they played us tough once again. they've got some great players on their team and they played well as a team as well. But we withstood the run they had in the second half and we got the win.

What was the key to the game?
I think defense towards the end of the game was the key. We got key stops and we hit key shots and that's what I really think were keys. We had a lot of fast break points and got out in transition. They wanted to slow the ball down a little bit more and we just tried to get into our game which was fast breaking.

What does this gold medal mean to you?
It's just a great feeling, a great accomplishment to represent your country and finish first and get the job done. It feels great. Bonding with these guys for however long we did is great and all our hard work paid off so it's a great feeling.

Does it mean more because we haven't won this since 1991?
I think it does. We came in with that goal and we said 'gold medal' during our huddles from day one so that was our focus the whole time and we got it done.

SHELVIN MACK (Butler / Lexington, Ky.)

What's it mean to win the gold medal.
It's a big honor to win a gold medal and represent our country. We did a very good job staying together as a team.

I felt very blessed with the opportunity that I had to come here and be with such great guys here. I had a great time with my teammates, just joking and having fun off the court.

DARIUS MILLER (Kentucky / Lexington, Ky.)

What does this gold medal mean to you?
It's great feeling, I never thought I'd feel this, I never thought I'd be part of team winning a gold medal. It's an incredible feeling, I can't really explain it.

A lot of hard work went into getting it, do you feel like now its the reward?
Definitely. I think we worked really hard, probably harder than a lot of other teams that were just assembled so quickly. They really pushed and really got us to reach our potential.

ARNETT MOULTRIE (UTEP / Memphis, Tenn.)

What does this gold medal mean to you?
It means everything to me. I never won a state championship, I've never been to the NCAA Tournament, I've never won a championship through my whole life in basketball so it means everything to me.

Does it feel better knowing this is something we haven't won in a long time?
Yeah I know, we were like the junior redemption team, we were just focused on winning it, that was our main goal, to win it.

JOHN SHURNA (Northwestern / Glen Ellyn, Ill.)

What does this gold medal mean to you?
It's a pretty amazing feeling right now. It's nice to see we came together like three or four weeks ago and our hard work paid off and now we're 19 and under world champs, it doesn't get much better than that.

TYSHAWN TAYLOR (Kansas / Jersey City, N.J.)

What does it feel like now that you have achieved your goal?
It feels good. We put in a lot of hard work. We've been together for like three weeks, three-and-a-half weeks now and going real hard. We had two a days back in Colorado at training camp so we've been going real hard and all that hard work paid off so everybody is excited and happy.

The long period since you last won this, the 18 year wait, was that a motivating factor for you guys to end that draught?
Definitely, Coach Dixon kept letting us know that we hadn't won this tournament for a while., This was our time, we knew with the guys that we brought on this team that we didn't have any superstars on the team, we just had really good players who liked being around each other and liked playing with each other so we knew it was going to be a fun experience.

What was the key for you guys winning the gold medal?
I think just playing hard and playing as a team. I think some people thought we were going to come out here and be selfish because we're from the USA and we play for different colleges. Well we all came out here and we just played unselfishly, made the extra pass. If you look at it I think we played nine games and we had a different scoring leader every time and our scoring was spread out pretty well so I think we shared the ball well for a team that had only been together for three weeks.

What's the difference between playing teams like Croatia and Greece with their loud fans compared to playing in college?
I think it's the same, it's like playing on the road a little bit when you got a big fan base like Croatia had yesterday with all their cheering and all that it's just like playing on the road and I think some of our guys are use to it and we just had to keep our composure and keep playing.

Watching from the sideline, it was a stop-start affair,did it feel like that as well?
Yeah it did. I mean there were a lot of whistles blown, a lot of free throws taken, so I think we just had to keep playing. Our coaches kept telling us that we can't listen to the refs so we just got to keep playing.

Did you expect that?
I knew it was going to be a tough game but I didn't know how the whistle was going to go but you never know what the refs are going to do and you just have to keep playing. Greece played really tough and the refs had to blow their whistle a lot.

Greece is a physical team, was it important to keep your composure against that physical challenge?
It definitely was. They are a physical team,they've got big guys, they've got guys that can really step out and shoot, so we knew it was going to be a tough game and they were going to come out and play tough because we beat them last time we played them. So we knew it wasn't going to be a game where we come here and just showed up. We were up 16 at halftime and only ended up winning by eight and they cut it down to two or three so it was a tough game and they played really well.

How proud are you to take that gold medal for your country?
I'm so proud, I can't wait to get home and show everybody. (Show all your friends?) Yeah I got bragging rights right now so I'm definitely going to brag.

What does the gold medal mean to you after a month of hard work?
It means so much. I'm glad I got the chance to represent my country. There were a few guys that didn't make the team, but the guys that made it I think we all liked each other, we all played hard and it's just fun. It feels so good to just come back after all the hard work - the two a days in Colorado, being here and practicing right after getting off an 18 hour flight, it feels so good like all the hard work paid off.

HOWARD THOMPKINS (Georgia / Lithonia, Ga.)

What does this gold medal mean to you?
It means so much to us individually, it means so much to us as a team, it means so much to us as a country. It means everything. It was so important to us and we came out here with one goal and that was to win gold.

Does it mean more because we haven't won this since 1991?
Definitely, we feel like somewhat of a redemption team. We feel like we got the job done and so many before us tried and they came up a little bit short, but we took care of business for our whole country today and this is a blessing from above.

Can you appreciate how hard it is to win a gold medal?
Definitely. We fought and scraped every game, and in training camp we fought and scraped and almost ripped each other's heads off. But we actually made it out here in one piece and we took care of business.

KLAY THOMPSON (Washington State / Lad era Ranch, Cal if.)

What does this gold medal mean to you?
It means everything. It means everything for our country and for these guys, it feels amazing for all the work we put in for 30 days and such a great result, it just feel so good.

Does it feel better knowing that we hadn't won it since 1991?
Yeah, that really made it feel better and made us feel like we were actually a real special team and we got it done.

TERRICO WHITE (Mississippi / Memphis, Tenn.)

What does this gold medal mean to you?
It means a lot, it means you won a gold medal for your country, that means a lot to me.

Tonight it was a physical game, strong game, kind of a grind it out game?
The game was physical, they came out strong. But in the second quarter we pulled away and in the third quarter they made a run but we maintained our composure, juts kept playing hard and we won the game.