USA BASKETBALL HISTORY
USA MEN’S WORLD CUP TEAM 1974 RESULTS
SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO • JULY 3-14, 1974
Co-favored with the USSR and defending champion Yugoslavia for the gold, the United States sent its youngest and its least internationally experienced team in history to San Juan. Unlike the Soviets, who boasted of five veterans of the 1972 gold medal Olympic team, only three U.S. players had international experience. Scoring over 100 points in each of its three preliminary round games, the U.S. opened with impressive wins of 135-85 versus the Philippines, 114-71 against Spain and 109-86 against Argentina. Meeting Puerto Rico, a squad U.S. head coach Gene Bartow had formerly coached, the U.S. claimed a 94-76 victory behind Gus Gerard’s 20 points and a six-minute Puerto Rican dry spell late in the first half. The U.S. also cruised past Canada, 115-94, as John Lucas and Tom Boswell each tallied 22 points. Cuba played the U.S. tough before eventually falling 83-70 as Lucas led the U.S. with 22 points. Luther ‘Ticky’ Burden pumped in 19 points and Lucas continued his hot shooting, scoring 17 points in the 103-83 effort over Brazil. The win set up one of the major battles of the tournament as two undefeated teams, the U.S. and Yugoslavia, met in the semifinals. Trailing Yugoslavia at the half, 50-41, the United States looked as if it may be headed to its first defeat, but the American team rallied back behind Burden’s 27 points and 16 points from Boswell and Lucas each, for a 91-88 victory. Finishing the final round with a contest against the Soviet Union, the 6-0 U.S. squad found itself in foul trouble early. Deadlocked at 55 at half, a late second half surge by the Soviet Union provided the difference as the USSR claimed a 105-94 win. The American defeat set up a unique situation with three teams, the USA, USSR and Yugoslavia tied with 6-1 records. The tie-breaking system of the higher numerical figure of points scored divided by points against afforded the Soviet Union the gold and Yugoslavia the silver. The U.S. was awarded the bronze. Lucas, Burden and Tom Boswell were named to the All-World team and Lucas was selected as the World Championship’s MVP.
1974 USA MEN’S WORLD CUP TEAM ROSTER
1974 USA RESULTS (8-1)
NAME
POS HGT WGT AGE AFFILIATION (SCHOOL)
HOMETOWN
Philippines
W, 135-85 W, 114-71 W, 109-86 W, 94-76 W, 115-94 W, 83-70 W, 103-83 W, 91-88 L, 94-105
Spain
Tom Boswell Quinn Buckner Luther Burden
F
6-9 6-3 6-2 6-8 6-0 7-0 6-4 6-11 6-3 6-6 6-7 6-8
225 203 185 195 190 235 170 217 190 205 205 224
20 19 21 20 18 21 20 20 19 20 20 22
South Carolina
Montgomery, AL
G G G C G C F G
Indiana
Phoenix, IL Albany, NY
Argentina Puerto Rico
Utah
Gus Gerard Steve Grote Rich Kelley John Lucas
Virginia Michigan Stanford Maryland
Uniontown, PA Cincinnati, OH Menlow Park, CA Durham, NC Phenix City, AL Bridgeport, CT Hattiesburg, MS Fort Towson, OK Royal, IL
Canada
Cuba Brazil
Joe Meriweather Frank Oleynick Rick Schmidt Eugene Short Myron Wilkins
Southern Illinois
Yugoslavia Soviet Union
Seattle Illinois
F F F
Jackson State
Northeastern Okla. A&M J. C.
FINAL STANDINGS
HEAD COACH: Gene Bartow, University of Illinois ASSISTANT COACH: Arad McCutchan, University of Evansville (IN) MANAGER: Herbert Mols, Buffalo, New York TEAM PHYSICIAN: Anthony Daly, Los Angeles, California ATHLETIC TRAINER: Skip Pickering, University of Illinois
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
Soviet Union (6-1)* Yugoslavia (6-1)* United States (6-1)*
Cuba (3-4) Spain (2-5)# Brazil (2-5)#
1974 USA MEN’S WORLD CUP TEAM CUMULATIVE STATISTICS
Puerto Rico (2-5)#
Canada (1-6)
NAME
G/S
FGM-A
PCT
FTM-A
PCT
REB
PTS
9. Mexico (5-0) 10. Czechoslovakia (4-1)
Burden Lucas Gerard Boswell
9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 8 4 6 4 9 9
182/ 20.2 178/ 19.7 118/ 17.1 98/ 10.8
11. Argentina (2-3)* 12. Australia (2-3)* 13. Philippines (2-3)* 14. Cent. African Rep. (0-5) *Final standings determined by point differential between tied teams. #Final standings determined by results between tied teams.
Short Kelley
86/ 9.5 84/ 9.3 67/ 7.4 59/ 6.6 26/ 3.2 16/ 4.0 16/ 2.6 8/ 2.0
Meriweather
Buckner
Grote
Oleynick Schmidt Wilkins
USA TOTALS OPP. TOTALS
393- 295-
152- 168-
938/104.2 758/ 84.2
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