Team USA Basketball: Kevin Love Overcomes Injury Scare, Pac-12 Players Shine Vs. Tunisia

The Pac-12 players continue to produce at the 2012 Olympic games, and yesterday all four of them made big contributions to notch the team its second victory in the tournament. With the starters struggling to get into a game as 55-point favorites against Tunisia, Coach Mike Krzyzewski turned to his bench, and the Pac-12 players off the bench combined for the following stat-line of 43 points, 16 rebounds, 8 assists and 4 steals in a 110-63 victory.

Kevin Love is starting to become one of the big stars of this United States men's basketball team. Despite not being the most athletic or most spectacular player on the floor, Love's versatility at the four makes him a matchup nightmare for most teams in this tournament, and his value is becoming more evident with each passing game. Love led all members of Team USA in scoring with 16 points while also grabbing six rebounds. There was a dangerous moment when the Timberwolves power forward hobbled off the court with an apparent knee injury, but Love recovered and went back on the court a few minutes later.

Andre Iguodala is never going to lead Team USA in scoring. But the former Arizona forward had some spectacular offensive rebound putback dunks, grabbed five boards overall, dished five assists, and had two big steals. Iggy made a pretty big impact while only scoring six points, and was part of the defensive shutdown efforts that pretty much ended the early upset bid by Tunisia.

Russell Westbrook was just as much a wrecking force defensively, grabbing two steals while finishing with 11 points, three rebounds and three assists. James Harden had 10 points and two rebounds. These Pac-12 basketball players are making sure the conference is well-represented in this tournament.

Around the world of Pac-12 basketball: Ike Diogu had another double-double in a loss by Nigeria to Lithuania. None of the other Pac-12 men's basketball players really had an impact.