Team USA received a wake-up call on Sunday morning when Lithuania (figuratively) punched them in their collective mouths en route to a 110-104 victory to hand the international powerhouse its first loss of the 2023 FIBA World Cup — the only one they could afford if they were to win the entire competition. The Lithuanians, in addition to shooting a smoking hot 56 percent from deep (they made their first nine attempts from three), bludgeoned the Americans on the boards, outrebounding them 43-27 and doubling their tally on the offensive glass (18 to 9).

While there are plenty of factors that played a part in Team USA's defeat, head coach Steve Kerr prefers not to overcomplicate matters and focus on the basics of why they fell short of their standards against Lithuania. Kerr believes that the entire team must put in more of an effort in gang rebounding, especially when they've proven capable of doing so in the past.

“You just can't have the four or five plays where guys are ball-watching as the shot goes up instead of turning and finding a man,” Kerr said, per Brian Windhorst of ESPN. “There's certain keys that we've shown our guys where we can get in better rebounding position at both ends of the floor.”

Some believe that Team USA's inability to control the boards stems from their proclivity towards playing small. Jonas Valanciunas was such a bruising presence down low, drawing fouls left and right on his former teammate Jaren Jackson Jr., and he helped carve out space for the likes of Tadas Sedekerskis and Vaidas Kariniauskas to get some demoralizing offensive boards. But Sedekerskis and Kariniauskas stand at 6'9 and 6'6, respectively, so it's not like Team USA's rebounding woes could be attributed to Lithuania's size advantage alone.

“If we change the possession now our speed takes over, right? So that's what we have to, to recognize not so much what our lineup is. It's how attentive and alert and aggressive all five guys are,” Kerr added.

Facing Italy in the quarterfinals of the 2023 FIBA World Cup, Team USA now knows that they'll have no margin of error on the glass if they were to avoid suffering the same fate they did four years ago when they flamed out and finished seventh.