Serbia College Basketball-Wisconsis’s Coache

Serbia had a 3-pointer to win the game, but the shot by Ivan Paunic didn't go down.

So on Tuesday night in Belgrade, the U.S. team escaped with a 68-66 victory in the final pool-play game prior to the medal round in the World University Games.

Every year one of the USA College Basketball Betting -based teams heads overseas to play a true road game and the response is always the same: The Americans had no idea it would be this intense.

This happens countless times on these trips, whether it's in Argentina, Brazil or, as in the case this week, Serbia.

Coaches from the United States -- Wisconsin's Bo Ryan and Miami's Frank Haith -- were amazed by the intensity of the game, the crowd, the players and the overall atmosphere the U.S. team endured in front of 14,000 fans at the Belgrade Arena. This isn't like the Olympic team playing to an NBA-friendly crowd in Beijing, either. The Serbs and the U.S. don't exactly have the coziest relationship.

That's why it should come as no surprise that the U.S. delegation is heavily guarded on the trip and doesn't go anywhere without an armed presence.

And it should come as no shock that the intensity in the building was raw.

"Basketball is huge in Serbia. It's their national sport,'' Ryan said by phone from Belgrade on Wednesday. "I had heard about it, but until you're here, and you see it -- it's incredible."

The whistling by the fans during the final few possessions was apparently deafening. On three successive possessions, the Americans got to the line, only to miss five straight free throws: the first two by Penn State's Talor Battle, the next two by West Virginia's Da'Sean Butler and one more from Villanova's Corey Fisher before he made his second attempt.

"It was like playing at Duke or North Carolina,'' Haith said. "It was unbelievable. There was an intensity there, playing Serbia. It was one helluva win for us. They're good -- really good.''

Ryan had to go with more strength in this game, leaning on Clemson's Trevor Booker and Purdue's Robbie Hummel in the second half as foul trouble plagued the slender Jarvis Varnado of Mississippi State. Haith described Serbian big man Miroslav Raduljica as a massive human being at "7-1, 290-something."

"People have no idea how awesome a win this was,'' Haith added.

The Americans may end up facing the Serbs in the gold-medal game if the favorites hold. The Americans play Bulgaria in the quarterfinals Thursday and would play the winner of Russia-Lithuania in a semifinal match Friday. The other bracket pits Serbia-Turkey and Germany-Israel. The championship game is Saturday.

If the U.S. is going to win this tournament, it might need another game from Battle like the one he had against the Serbs. He was 7-of-12 from the field, 3-of-6 on 3s and scored 17 points in 22 minutes. Battle wasn't the first choice to make the squad a few weeks ago at the trials in Colorado Springs. The expectation prior to the event was that Arizona's Nic Wise would earn the nod. But Battle, fresh off leading the Nittany Lions to the NIT title, won the job and has been a bit more consistent than Fisher at the point.