The\u00a0US\u2002suffered a surprise 110-104 loss to Lithuania at the\u00a0FIBA Basketball World Cup\u00a0in the Philippines on Sunday.
Lithuania led by 17 points at halftime and despite a late US resurgence held on to secure the country\u2019s third ever victory over the Americans and inflicting a first group stage defeat on the US since 2002.
Both countries, however, progress to Tuesday\u2019s quarterfinals with Lithuania, as Group J top seeds, next facing Serbia and the US taking on Italy.
Jonas Valan\u010di\u016bnas finished with 12 points, seven rebounds and two blocks, while Anthony Edwards scored a game-high 35 points for the US, tying Carmelo Anthony for the second-most points scored in a US Basketball FIBA game. Kevin Durant holds the record with 38 points during the 2010 tournament.
Lithuania head coach Kazys Maksvytis said his team needed to \u201csave our emotions\u201d for the next game.
\u201cCongratulations to my players, but we need to have short memory to prepare for the second game,\u201d he said, per FIBA.
USA head coach Steve Kerr was critical of his team\u2019s play, saying Lithuania \u201cjust punched us in the mouth.\u201d
\u201cWe\u2019re fortunate that the loss doesn\u2019t hurt us in terms of our goal, which is to win the gold medal,\u201d Kerr added while speaking to reporters after the game.
\u201cIt\u2019s a great game for us to experience because this is FIBA \u2026 I hate losing. I probably won\u2019t sleep much tonight. But for us to get better we needed to feel this. We needed to respond the way we did and next game we have to start the way we did in the second half. We can\u2019t ease into the game at all. I\u2019m hoping this is a lesson and we get better from this.\u201d
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