MANILA: United States forward Mikal Bridges said his team were “just plain hungry” after they overpowered Italy on Tuesday to book their place in the Basketball World Cup semifinals. The US beat Italy 100-63 to rebound from their first defeat of the tournament, a loss to Lithuania in the second round two days earlier. The Americans fell behind early against Lithuania but they had no such problems with Italy, leading by 10 points by the end of the first quarter. Bridges, who led the US in scoring with 24 points, said the mantra heading into the quarter-final game was to “set the tone.” “That’s what the coach has been preaching to us,” he said. “The bench has been doing a pretty good job but I think the starters have been letting them down a little bit with a slow start. “The coach got us prepared and we were just plain hungry.” The US never gave Italy a chance to get started, learning their lesson after allowing Lithuania to nail their first nine three-point attempts. The Americans limited Italy to just 24 points in the first half — the second-lowest tally ever from a team appearing in a World Cup quarter-final. “We took a tough loss last game,” said US center Paolo Banchero. “It felt like we didn’t play up to our standards on the defense end, so we wanted to come out and make a statement on defense.” The US will face either Germany or tournament sensations Latvia in the semifinals on Friday. Head coach Steve Kerr said he was not worried about his players letting their energy levels drop after such a high-octane performance. He likened his team to “the horse turning back to the barn.” “The horse starts picking up the pace when it senses it’s near the barn, and that’s what is happening right now — our guys are sensing
