Whew.

In by far the biggest challenge Team USA has faced in the Worlds thus far, the Americans came back from a double-digit second half deficit to beat Italy 94-85 earlier this morning.

It was the Melo Show – Carmelo Anthony scored a tourney-record 35 points. There's no box score yet, but the AP story says Team USA faltered in the second quarter, scoring only 11 points. That caused Mike Krzyzewski to play his top line more than usual, which led to Melo taking over.

It'll be interesting to see if Brad Miller contributing to the second quarter malaise, or didn't get a chance to.

By the way, Team USA has now clinched the top seed in Group D. They play Senegal Thursday – and Senegal lost by 17 to China this morning. Italy needs to beat Puerto Rico for the two seed, Slovenia is in, and I believe Puerto Rico is assured a spot in the knockouts, as well.