Seattle, Washington, USA - July 23-29, l990

Assembling a team comprised of some of the USA's most promising collegians, the U.S. squad that journeyed to Seattle was a young group which averaged under 20-years of age. Hoping to capture gold, the U.S. squad settled for silver as Yugoslavia claimed the Goodwill Games gold crown.

1990 USA Men's Goodwill Games Team 1990 USA RESULTS (3-2) USA 100 Puerto Rico 94 USSR 92 USA 85 USA 113 Italy 76 USA 112 Brazil 95 Yugoslavia 85 USA 79 1990 GOODWILL GAMES FINAL STANDINGS 1. Yugoslavia (4-1) 5. Australia (2-3) 2. USA (3-2) 6. Puerto Rico (2-3) 3. Soviet Union (3-2) 7. Italy (2-3) 4. Brazil (3-2) 8. Spain (1-4)

Opening the competition against an extremely seasoned team from Puerto Rico, the U.S. rallied in the second half to grab a 100-94 victory. Promising Syracuse standout Billy Owens led the U.S. with 34 points and added seven rebounds, while Georgia Tech sophomore-to-be Kenny Anderson added 21 points.

In a much awaited USA-USSR matchup, the first since the Soviet Union upset the U.S. in the 1988 Olympics, the USA's shooting went cold in the second half and the Soviets rallied to snag a 92-85 win. USSR Olympian Valerie Tikhonenko led the Soviet attack with 30 points, while Georgetown's Alonzo Mourning led the U.S. with an impressive 20 point, 14 rebound effort.

Looking to rebound and with gold medal hopes still alive, the USA faced Italy in a must win game. Relying on endline to endline defensive pressure, the U.S. jumped Italy right from the start and never looked back, cruising to a 113-76 victory. Anderson spearheaded the American's offense recording 19 points while Arkansas junior-to-be Todd Day tossed in 15 and Missouri senior-to-be Doug Smith added 14 points.

With gold medal hopes still very much alive, the USA met Brazil in a semifinal matchup. Brazil, which entered the contest as the only unbeaten team, was led by international veteran and high scoring legend Oscar Schmidt. Taking control midway through the first half, the U.S., behind 17 first half points from Anderson, led 58-45 at half. Brazil cut the USA's lead to eight early in the second half, but Owens scored seven of the USA's next nine points to lift the U.S. out of danger and into the gold medal game with an impressive 112-95 victory. Anderson led the U.S. with 25 points and seven assists, while Owens added 22 points and 10 rebounds. Schmidt tallied game-highs of 38 points and 11 rebounds for Brazil.

Meeting in the gold medal game an experienced and talented Yugoslavian squad that had knocked off the Soviets 84-78 in the other semifinal game, the U.S. team hung with Yugoslavia and at half trailed 34-31.

The game remained close and with 7:01 to play, Yugoslavia held a slim 67-65 lead. Outscoring the USA 11-2 over the next 2:22, Yugoslavia took control 78-67, however, the U.S. squad refused to fold. Rallying behind Owens and Mourning, the U.S. closed to within three, 81-78 with 1:48 to go, but could not come up with the defensive stop as Yugoslavia held off the U.S. rally and earned the 85-79 win. Owens paced the USA offense with 23 points, and Mourning added 18 points and 13 rebounds. Jurij Zdovc led Yugoslavia with 21 points and Toni Kukoc added 17 points and 10 assists.

1990 USA Men's Goodwill Games Cumulative Statistics