Jim Boeheim has been disappointed in Team USA’s defensive performances after the last two games.

“After that Lithuania game on Saturday and this one with Argentina on Monday, I think we’ve learned our lesson,” Boeheim relayed from London. “And it's a good one to learn: We have to play defense.

“It’s as simple as that. If we want to win these Olympics, if we want to come home with the gold medal, we have to play defense the way we did in the third quarter against Argentina.”

Argentina connected on 56 percent of its attempts in the first half, and the US led just 60-59.

“We talked about it at halftime,” Boeheim continued. “We talked about what we needed to do. We just said, ‘Look, playing like this isn’t going to work.’ And then we went out and outscored them 42-17 in the third quarter.

“Of course, LeBron James (18 points) was great again. And when Kevin Durant shoots like that -- he made eight of his 10 ‘threes’ and finished with 28 points -- he’s difficult for anybody anywhere. And our point guards, Chris Paul and Deron Williams, were very aggressive and that made a big difference.

“But we took over this game with our defense. And we’re going to have to play like that the rest of the way if we want to win this thing.”