Additional Quotes >> USA 115, Egypt 60
June 30, 2011 • Liepaja, Latvia
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Paul Hewitt, USA head coach
Opening comments on the game:
Obviously we’re pleased to be in the tournament, it’s the best 19-and-under teams in the world, and we feel we were fortunate to come and play well today. The young men focused on the things we wanted to focus on, defensively especially. I like the fact that we shared the basketball, and we had a lot of guys get some good looks at the basket and make some shots.
How important was it for the team to get out to a strong start like they did in this game?
It’s always important to get off to a strong start, but in particular, with the two friendlies we had, it was nice to see our kids adjusting to the time change and just getting used to being in Europe, many of them for the first time.
What were you happy with in today’s game?
Ball movement and I thought we defended well, but in particular ball movement, and we made some threes. I think any team that wins this world championship is going to have shoot the ball well from the outside, and that’s usually keyed by good passing.
The team’s shooting was much better today:
When those guys (Lamb and Jackson) start hitting shots it just gives confidence to the rest of the team and then Hardaway comes in and hits a couple, Brown and McDermott made some too. But when Jeremy and Joe are knocking down shots it helps the whole team. There were a couple of things we did offensively that created some of those looks, and I was very pleased to see them executing some of that stuff. When those two guys make plays and make shots it really gives our team a lift.
What do you expect to be the keys to your game tomorrow against Serbia?
I think we’re going to have to defend their ball screens really well, and we’re going to have to stop dribble penetration that leads to kick out threes for them.
The USA was bigger than Egypt and your guys really rebounded the ball well:
I expect us to be one of the better rebounding teams in the championship regardless of size. I thought the last game we were a little tired but we still held our own on the boards. I expect us to continue to get better on the boards and more efficient on the boards as we get more adjusted to being over here.
 Young |
Patric Young
(Florida / Jacksonville, Fla.)
Comment on today’s game:
At the beginning of the game we were really focused on rebounding, defense, pushing the ball up the floor, the things that Coach Hewitt told us before the game started to really focus and key in on. We really executed those things at the beginning of the game because we wanted to make a statement that we are a team, and we came here to win a gold medal.
Is this your first time in Europe and are you enjoying it?
(Laughing) It’s really funny you ask that. Yes, this is my first time even out the United States and I didn’t really know what to expect when I got here, but it was really humbling to find out things are different in the United States compared to here. But I am enjoying it so far. I’m learning a lot, I’m learning about customs, I’m learning about how things go in Latvia and I’m really going to take it all in.
Any Jet Lag?
Jet lag? Yes, I couldn’t sleep at all last night.
 Jackson |
(Memphis / Memphis, Tenn.)
How important as it for your team to get off to a good start?
It was very important. We needed to get our confidence back after losing our two exhibitions. This team is talented enough to go out and play harder than what we played like the last couple of days. I think we came out today and shot well from the field, played better defense and rebounded the ball a little better and it paid off for us.
How did it feel to start hitting your threes and see some of your teammates hit threes?
I knew eventually the shots would start falling, sometimes you just never know when, but we’ve been shooting a lot after practice. We’re playing with a different ball, you know it probably takes a week just to get use to shooting it, getting your fingers spaced on the different ball. We shoot a lot and once you make shots your confidence goes up, so I’m looking forward for our team to be making shots from here on out.
The tempo today seemed more to the liking of the team:
We hit them hard right from the jump. We hit the boards, blocked some shots, got some transition buckets and fouls, and it’s kind of hard when you let a team set the tempo and that’s what we came out and did.
 Lamb |
(Connecticut / Norcross, Ga.)
Talk about today’s game:
We came out a lot more focused because we lost our last two games. So we wanted to come out focused and from the tip we got the first two points and from there on we just played hard.
It was obviously good to see the team make some threes today:
I hit a couple, but everyone was making the extra pass. I was making the passes to Joe (Jackson), making the passes to Tim and everybody was just clicking today. We played better defense and when you get stops it helps your offense. It was real important to knock down shots and get this win, so we can have a little more confidence going into the next couple of game.
The tempo of the game seemed to be what you wanted:
We got stops playing good defense, so it lead to us running, being able to get easy buckets and whenever you can get easy buckets that’s always good for your team. Defense leads to offense.
 Leonard |
(Illinois / Robinson, Ill.)
Comment on the game and the team’s fast start.
We got up 22-0, so we obviously knew that they were a little bit of a weaker opponent. We talked last night as a matter of fact about never letting up because the point system could come into play depending on your record and all that, so it’s very important to keep on playing for all 40 minutes.
We hopped on them from the beginning, and we didn’t let up. I think we played pretty well overall. We finally got our offense into a flow, got some transition buckets and just kept playing hard the whole time.
How good was it to see the three-ball start falling?
It’s very nice, the fact that we can go inside-out because a lot of teams when I catch the ball in the post you know they’re going double in. The same deal with Pat (Young) especially with how big he is. We kept getting Jeremy with baseline screens and played well, executing the offense. We’re very versatile, and I hope we continue to do it.
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