Team USA was stunned by Lithuania Saturday night, 76-74, in the quarterfinals of the World University Games in Shenzen, China.
After battling back from as many as eight points down in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 74-74 with just under two minutes remaining, Team USA missed its last five shot attempts as Lithuania sank two free throws to secure the win.
John Jenkins of Vanderbilt led Team USA with 17 points, Pitt’s Ashton Gibbs had 16 and Alabama’s JaMychal Green added 12, but the Americans shot just 5-of-30 from beyond the arc, 0-for-14 in the second half.
“I thought our guys came out and gave a good effort,” said USA and Purdue University head coach Matt Painter.
“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.”
The USA will play Romania (3-3) at 8:30 p.m. (8:30 a.m. EST) on Aug. 21, with the winner advancing to the 5th/6th place game.
