Coming off the bench for the first time in the games, Butler scored just four points, but had six rebounds (three offensive) and added two assists and one steal in Team USA's win. He also was turnover free -- one of only two team members to have an errorless game. The U.S. pounded their foes on the boards, finishing with 1 62-21 advantage while piling up a 30-point halftime lead.
With the win, the U.S. advances to the second round, where it will face Greece (1-1), which finished second in Group A, on July 6 (2:00 p.m. EDT), and Group A first place finisher Serbia (2-0) on July 7 (2:00 p.m. EDT). Finland (1-1) also advanced to Group I second round action.
“We knew they were going to do a lot of different things -- a lot of run-and-jump, a lot of pressure,” said USA and University of Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan. “So we took the lay ups when we could. We needed to take better care of the ball, but, boy, it was so tempting to push it when they were extended. Shooting percentage wise, we ended up shooting it pretty well.
“Guys were sharing the ball, and we did some good things that way. Guys weren’t selfish. They were pulling for each other, and we need to do that. There is going to be some up and downs. There are going to be some blips on the radar screen. As long as we stay together and play through those, then we will be ok.”
The USA, which dished out 21 assists, was a force inside the paint, scoring 82 points from inside. The American men also scored 21 second-chance points, compared to Korea’s five. Additionally, the USA shot a sizzling 61.1 percent (29-78 FGs) from the field, while limiting the Asians to just 37.2 percent (29-78 FGs).
In all, 16 teams advanced to medal second round play and have been placed into four pools of four teams each. Results of first round games against advancing teams carry over to the second round. Group J features Germany, Latvia, Lithuania and Romania; Group K includes Canada, Israel, Italy and Russia; while Group L includes Bulgaria, Portugal, Turkey and Ukraine.
Medal quarterfinals will be played on July 9, semifinals are scheduled for July 10 and the gold medal will be contested on July 11.