Cuonzo Martin leaves China with work ahead

Cuonzo Martin is anxious to get home and get to work on the Tennessee men's basketball team after the U.S. Men's Junior National Team finished fifth at the World University Games in Shenzen, China.

Martin, who served as an assistant coach to Purdue's Matt Painter, will work to make sure the Vols don't repeat the same mistake the U.S. did en route to the disappointing finish.

Lithuania beat the U.S. 76-74 in the quarterfinals on Saturday. U.S. players said the loss was a result of Lithuania giving more effort.

"They played harder than us,'' Pittsburgh's Ashton Gibbs, who scored 16 points in the loss, said in a team release.

Alabama's JaMychal Green agreed.

"They played harder,'' he said. "They got loose balls and they outrebounded us. That won the game for them.''

The U.S. finished up Monday with a 7-1 record, beating Germany, 86-83, in the fifth-place game. Serbia defeated Canada, 68-55, in Gold Medal game.

Martin, who was scheduled to leave China at 11 p.m. on Monday night and arrive back in Knoxville tonight, said UT's individual workouts (which begin Friday) will be geared toward developing skills and toughness.

"The first two weeks the emphasis will be defense,'' Martin said. "We will discuss and work on our terminology, breakdown, technique and style — which will be physical and tough.''

The NCAA allows for up to four players at a time on the floor, but Martin said he will break down the team into groups of two, by position.

"We will do two because you can maximize the time you have them on the floor,'' he said. "There will be a combination of skill work, development and building relationships, and conditioning will be involved.''

Martin, like Painter a product of the Purdue system, said coaching with the U.S. team gave him an opportunity to exchange ideas with other coaches.

In addition to Painter and fellow U.S. assistant Brad Stevens of Butler, Martin talked with other coaches who were either on the USA committee or assisting in Colorado Springs, Colo., before the team left for China.

"We talked offense, defense, situations and recruiting; it was a great roundtable,'' Martin said. "Guys like Arizona's Sean Miller, Illinois' Bruce Weber, Virginia Commonwealth coach Shaka Smart, Virginia's Tony Bennett and Washington's Lorenzo Romar.''

Martin said the Vols will have meetings on Wednesday to go over terminology, and on Thursday he will conduct one-on-one interviews where the talk will turn to academics and student life.

Mike Griffith covers Tennessee men's basketball and can be followed on twitter at http://twitter.com/MikeGriffith32