| Head coach | Hank Iba |
|---|---|
| 1972 Summer Olympics |  |
| Scoring leader |  Tom Henderson /Dwight Jones9.2 |
| Rebounding leader | Dwight Jones 5.7 |
The1972 United States men's Olympic basketball team represented theUnited States at the1972 Summer Olympics inMunich,Germany. Led byTom Henderson andDwight Jones, the team would go on to win the silver medal. In thefinal game of the Olympics, Team USA controversially lost for the first time inSummer Olympic Games competition, and ended their 63-game winning streak (the streak began in the1936 Summer Olympics). TheSoviet team that defeated the Americans featured international veterans, who had been playing together for years in theirdomestic pro league and international tournaments, while the American team was barred from sendingNBA players, and usedcollegians instead.[1][2][3][4] The team members have never accepted their medals, due to the controversy surrounding the1972 Olympic men's basketball final.
United States beat
Czechoslovakia, 66–35 United States beat
Australia, 81–55 United States beat
Cuba, 67–48 United States beat
Brazil, 67–54 United States beat
Egypt, 96–31 United States beat
Spain, 72–56 United States beat
Japan, 99–33 United States beat
Italy, 68–38
Soviet Union beat United States, 51–50 Soviet Union (9–0) United States (8–1) Cuba (7–2) Italy (5–4)
Yugoslavia (7–2)
Puerto Rico (6–3) Brazil (5–4) Czechoslovakia (4–5) Australia (5–4)
Poland (3–6) Spain (4–5)
West Germany (3–6)
Philippines (3–6) Japan (2–7)
Senegal (0–8) Egypt (0–8)