“I’m really happy with the way we’re performing right now,” said U.S. head coach Steve Wilson (Racine, Wisc.).  “We’re stepping up our defensive intensity and execution and we’re starting to fire on the offensive end. We’re really using our strengths instead of trying to force the issue.”

The U.S. put on yet another display of strong teamwork and balance with 11 of the team’s 12 players putting points on the board. Co-captains Paul Schulte (Bradenton, Fla./Manchester, Mich.) and Mikey Paye (Gissen, Germany/Warren, Mich.) led the way with 18 and 16 points, respectively. Also reaching double-digits were Matt Scott (Whitewater, Wisc./Detroit, Mich.), Steve Serio (Champaign, Ill./Westbury, N.Y.) and Jake Counts (Tuscaloosa, Ala./Covington, Ky.) with 13, 12 and 10 points each.

“We’ve been playing some games so far this week that haven’t been quite as competitive as what we’re going to see Friday night against Brazil,” said Paye. “We’re hungry for this game and we’re prepared. It’s going to be an exciting atmosphere with a packed house and one of our goals is to get off to a good start and come out ready.”

The U.S. team has won each of its four games this week by an average of 60 points and will face some new challenges when they take on the hometown favorites in front of a passionate Brazilian crowd on Friday night.

“Brazil is going to feed off the energy of the fans and we’re going to have to put a stop to that right away,” said Wilson. “As coaches, we do our best to make every game an example of what we’re about to face on Friday. We have the guys treat every game the same, so when we get to something like we’ll see against Brazil it’ll be easier for the team to adjust.”