Additional Quotes >> Lithuania 76, USA 74

Aug. 20, 2011 • Shenzhen, China

Matt Painter, USA head coach
On the difference in the game:
I thought our guys came out and gave a good effort. Lithuania was a little bit quicker to the basketball. They outrebounded us by about six. If you can pinpoint one area, probably the loose balls and a couple of those long rebounds probably ended up being the key to the game. That was something that we talked about. You got to give Lithuania credit. They did a good job of running down some long rebounds and being able to get the loose balls and in my opinion that was the difference.

Did you get the looks you wanted down the stretch when you were trying to come back?
It’s a little bit different than how we play. A lot of times when you have the ball and you have possession, you use your time outs. You get something set. Yeah, we got a couple really good looks at the rim on drives and had the ball at the basket on a couple fast breaks and just came away with nothing. That was unfortunate because we did have good looks. We did have good players taking good shots. It just didn’t go down for us at some key times.

Did foul trouble get the team out of rhythm or were you able to combat that with depth?
I didn‘t think so. Foul trouble went both ways. They were also in foul trouble. They had some of their key players out. We were in a little bit of foul trouble and had some of our key players out. Once we got down the stretch a couple of those guys hadn’t played a lot, so we stayed with the guys who had been out there and had a rhythm.

Moving forward, how do you get the team motivated to finish out strong?
Obviously you can’t achieve your goal of winning the gold medal and that’s disappointing. You come together and you work really hard and now that’s not in front of you anymore. Now you have to come out and do the best that you possibly can. We’re going to see what we’re made of. I think it’s going to be a good sign for our team to go out there and play harder, maybe do some more little things and hopefully get a couple more victories.

Ashton Gibbs (University of Pittsburgh)
What do you think the difference in tonight’s game was?
They played harder than us. I got to give them credit. We didn’t take advantage of some of the opportunities that we had on defense and offense. That’s something we have to learn from. We still have two more games left. So, we have to keep playing hard.

Did you get the looks you wanted down the stretch?
I think so. Some of those shots we usually make. It was more so that they just played harder than us on defense and it showed. They got loose balls. That’s why they won the game.

How do you refocus to come back and finish out strong?
We have to stay positive. We still have two more games to win. We have to keep our heads up, take one game at a time and just worry about the next one.

JaMychal Green (University of Alabama)
On Lithuania’s post play:
They were a very physical team and they did a great job battling us.

Was this the toughest team you’ve faced here?
I would say the second toughest. Israel was the toughest team. They were even more physical.

What was the difference in the game?
They played harder. They got loose balls and they outrebounded us. That won the game for them.

Where does the team go from here?
I don’t know. We just have to keep our heads up and get ready for the next game.

John Jenkins (Vanderbilt University)
On tonight’s game:
Lithuania fought through everything, every loose ball. Every play they gave it their all. You could tell they really wanted it. We have to give them credit. They fought really hard and got the win.

On the fourth quarter:
We had some shots that didn’t fall. We made a couple of mistakes on defense. They got to the free throw line. They hit some big shots and they were able to close it out.

What’s the team’s focus moving forward?
We still want to play hard. We didn’t accomplish our goal, but the worst thing we can do is give up and not play our hardest. We have to keep giving it our all and try to finish out strong.

Orlando Johnson (UC Santa Barbara)
Did you get the looks you wanted down the stretch when you were trying to come back?
We had open looks. It was just one of those days where the shots just don’t fall your way. I couldn’t say maybe we could have got a better shot, but the shots that we took were shots that we practiced. We have to live with that. It’s a tough one for all of us. I know in our minds we had one goal and we can’t accomplish that now. But, now we need to regroup and finish strong in China. I think we’re going to do that. We’re going to bounce back and still represent our country.

On the Lithuanian team:
They fought hard. They fought really hard. You could tell they’ve been together for awhile. They’ve been in games like this before. There were situations down the stretch we didn’t execute … we just didn’t finish. This is something we can all learn from, not to take anyone for granted. We didn’t, but we just have to be ready to get on it every moment, every time we step out onto the court, because somebody’s coming to beat us. You could see how excited they were to win and this wasn’t even the gold medal game. We just have to learn and keep moving forward.