1952 United States men's Olympic basketball team
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The 1952 United States men's Olympic basketball team competed in the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland from July 14 to August 2, 1952. Warren Womble was the team's head coach, and Phog Allen was the team's main assistant coach.[2] The team won its third straight Summer Olympics basketball gold medal.
| Head coach | Warren Womble |
|---|---|
| 1952 Summer Olympics |  |
| Scoring leader |  Clyde Lovellette (13.9)[1] |
| Biggest win | 48 vs. Chile  |
Olympic Trials
The Olympic Trials were held at the end of March in Kansas City and New York.[3] The collegiate side of the Olympic Trials bracket included the NAIA, NIT, and NCAA champions as well as the NCAA runner-up. The post-collegiate amateur bracket contained the four semi-finalists from the 1952 AAU basketball tournament.
| Amateur semi-finals Collegiate semi-finals March 29 | Amateur final Collegiate final March 31 | Final April 1 | ||||||||
| New York City | ||||||||||
| Peoria Caterpillars (AAU champions) | 71 | |||||||||
| New York City | ||||||||||
| Air Force All-Stars (AAU third place) | 67 | |||||||||
| Peoria Caterpillars | 64 | |||||||||
| Kansas City | ||||||||||
| Phillips Oilers | 50 | |||||||||
| Phillips Oilers (AAU runners-up) | 502OT | |||||||||
| New York City | ||||||||||
| Hollywood Fibber McGee and Molly (AAU fourth place) | 48 | |||||||||
| Peoria Caterpillars | 62 | |||||||||
| New York City | ||||||||||
| Kansas | 60 | |||||||||
| La Salle (NIT champions) | 71 | |||||||||
| New York City | ||||||||||
| St. John's (NCAA runners-up) | 62 | |||||||||
| La Salle | 65 | Third Place | ||||||||
| Kansas City | ||||||||||
| Kansas | 70 | New York City | ||||||||
| Kansas (NCAA champions) | 92 | |||||||||
| Phillips Oilers | 92 | |||||||||
| Southwest Missouri State (NAIA champions) | 65 | |||||||||
| La Salle | 59 | |||||||||
Roster
The team consisted of 14 members. It included five members of the Amateur Athletic Union's Peoria Caterpillars team and two Phillips 66ers. The team also featured seven players from the national champion 1951–52 Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team, as well as their coach Phog Allen, who served as assistant on the team.
1952 Team USA matches
2 August 1952 16:00 |
OR p. 688 |
United States  |
36–25 |  Soviet Union |
| Scoring by half: 17–15, 19–10 | ||
| Pts: Lovellette 9 | Pts: Korkia 8 | |
Final match up versus USSR
The final match up game was a very low scoring game, as the USSR successfully utilized a low block and time wasting. After ten minutes, Team USA only led 4–3. After the USSR took a lead in the third quarter, Team USA began to display their offense by shooting well, ultimately winning the game by 11 points. Lovellette scored nine points, while Kurland scored eight points.
Final standings
- 1.
United States (8–0) - 2.
Soviet Union (6–2) - 3.
Uruguay (5–3) - 4.
Argentina (5–3) - 5.
Chile (4–4) - 6.
Brazil (4–4) - 7.
Bulgaria (4–4) - 8.
France (4–4) - 9.
Canada (3–3) - 10.
Cuba (1–4) - 11.
Czechoslovakia (1–2) - 12.
Egypt (3–3) - 13.
Finland (0–3) - 14.
Hungary (2–4) - 15.
Mexico (1–2) - 16.
Philippines (1–2)[4]
