July 27, 2001

DALLAS, Texas - Falling behind by as many as 21 points, the USA World Championship For Young Men Team rallied back and behind 24 points from Caron Butler (Connecticut / Racine, Wis.) pulled out an 87-77 victory against Yugoslavia in an exhibition game Thursday night at Southern Methodist University's Moody Coliseum. The victory was the USA's second exhibition game win in as many nights. The USA team, training for the 2001 FIBA World Championship For Young Men that will be played Aug. 3-12 in Saitama, Japan, now shifts its training to Oakland, Calif., where it will train July 27-30.

"The biggest thing is that we thought this was going to be an easy summer because we won by 50 (113-66 against Lithuania on July 25) and this is a lesson all kids have to learn, that it's going to be tough, every night you're going to play veteran teams. This team (Yugoslavia) played very well. They were patient and we weren't ready in the beginning and spotted them 15-16 points and then its going to be a battle all the way back. I think we learned a lesson," said USA head coach Jim Boeheim.

"We didn't think we see as much zone as we have the past two nights and in the past most of the teams have played man-to-man, so we've got to work on our zone stuff. These are good lessons, you don't want come and get two easy games and then get there and find out its tough. We've already found out its going to be tough so this is a good lesson for us." commented Boeheim.

Committing four turnovers and missing its first five shots, the U.S. fell behind 13-0 before Nick Collison (Kansas / Iowa Falls, Iowa) scored with 5:47 to go in the opening quarter. Yugoslavia continued its dominating performance and with 1:29 left in the first quarter held a 25-4 lead. Michael Sweetney (Georgetown / Oxen Hill, Md.) and Reggie Evans (Iowa / Pensacola, Fla.) made back-to-back baskets to close out the first quarter scoring for the USA, but still when the first quarter was over Yugoslavia was in full control 27-8.

Coming to life in the second quarter, the USA assembled an 18-5 run that reduced Yugoslavia's lead to 32-26 with 4:36 to play in the quarter. Yugoslavia refused to fold and fought off the rally to take a 41-33 lead at halftime.

University of Connecticut star Butler scored the USA's first 11 points of the third quarter, and 13 of his team's 15 points, as the Americans cut the Yugoslavia advantage to 53-48 with 5:30 to go in the third. Trailing 62-52 with 2:45 in the third, the U.S. closed the quarter with a 10-0 run to tie the score 62-62.

The fourth quarter saw the two teams trade leads several times and with 5:16 left in the game Yugoslavia led 74-71. The USA defense took over and the Americans closed the game with a 16-3 run. A putback by Collison with 4:25 on the clock tied the game 74-74, and with 2:47 to play the game was even at 77. Butler scored with 2:28 left to give the U.S. the lead for good, 79-77, and the USA defense forced Yugoslavia into shot clock violations on consecutive possessions. Chris Duhon (Duke / Slidell, La.) sealed the victory when he drilled a 3-pointer with 55 seconds remaining to push the U.S. lead to 82-77 and the U.S. went on to post the 87-77 victory.

"We made some good rallies, made a couple of big plays, and we hadn't made a big shot the whole time from outside and Chris made a big three and that was the game really," said Boeheim. "Caron is an offensive players, he is big offensive weapon for us and we have to utilize him. We have to make sure we utilize him and get him going offensively because he is a very, very good offensive player and we have to take advantage of his skills and he's got to be aggressive on the offensive end."

In addition to Butler's 24 points (8-13 FGs, 8-10 FTs), Carlos Boozer (Duke / Juneau, Alaska) finished with 14 points and a team best six rebounds, while Collison added 10 points and five rebounds. Yugoslavia's scoring was led by Steva Nadejl who finished with 21 points.

"Coach Boeheim and the coaching staff told me they wanted me to be more aggressive and more offensive minded." state Butler, who scored 15 of his game high 24 points in the third quarter. "After one or two shots drop and you get that rhythm then its just automatic. I'm just glad I got that rhythm today and hopefully I continue that through the rest of the trip.

"I was very confident," added Butler about the USA making a comeback, "because you've got supreme talent on this basketball club and with this type of talent you can rally back from anything."

The Americans, after shooting just 4-of-12 (33.3 percent) in the first quarter, finished the game shooting 47.0 percent (32-68 FGs), and Yugoslavia made 46.2 percent (24-52 FGs). Yugoslavia made 10-of-25 3-pointers, while the U.S. managed to make just 3-of-15 (20.0 percent) 3-pointers. The USA controlled the glass, outrebounding Yugoslavia 34-17, including 18 offensive rebounds.