USA vs. Mexico: FIBA World Cup 2014 Round of 16 Score and Twitter Reaction

Team USA continued its trek toward the 2014 FIBA World Cup title with a dominating 86-63 victory over an overmatched Mexico squad in the round of 16 on Saturday in Barcelona to advance to the quarterfinal round. 

Head coach Mike Krzyzewski will assuredly be pleased with the way his squad performed. Despite going undefeated in group play, some sluggish efforts from the Americans down the stretch left concerns about what would happen against better teams. 

While this still wasn't a perfect performance, the United States looked strong from the tipoff, storming out to a 23-13 lead through the first 10 minutes. Here's a quarter-by-quarter breakdown of how the game played out:

Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Final
United States	23	19	24	20	86
Mexico	13	14	11	25	63

Stephen Curry was the star of the game for the United States, as he appears to be finding his shooting touch after a slow start in the group phase. Golden State's point guard finished with a team-high 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including 6-of-9 on three-point attempts and 11 points in the third quarter, via the Warriors' Twitter:

As Mark Jones of ESPN tweeted upon seeing Curry catch fire, it's good to see him back in top form:

You can see the difference having an outside presence makes for Team USA. Coach K's group struggled against inferior competition like Turkey and early against Ukraine because it couldn't make outside shots (13-of-34 from three-point range combined). The U.S. made 13 three-pointers on 29 attempts against Mexico. 

Despite the Americans experiencing some struggles shooting the ball and finding a rhythm together, Jerry Colangelo told Sam Amick of USA Today prior to the round of 16 that he liked where the group was headed:

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You can see a lot of signs (of progress) during the course of a game, like the game against Turkey when we got off to such a poor start the first half (trailing 40-35) and then in the second half it was like (flips a switch). If you would have reversed the halves, nobody would have talked about how Turkey had this gameplan. We haven't come out of the gate quickly enough in a few games, but once we get going it happens. 

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It's hard to develop chemistry in just a few weeks. Most teams in this event have been together for years, but Team USA doesn't have that luxury. You can see the growing pains on the court, though the players are so talented that it hasn't yet hurt the bottom line. 

Another good sign for Team USA is the continued excellence of DeMarcus Cousins. The backup center had a strong game against Mexico with 11 points on 5-of-5 shooting and seven rebounds. In fact, he and Curry scored 20 straight points during a stretch in the second half, according to USA Basketball's Twitter account:

The news isn't all good for the United States right now, as Derrick Rose continues to look like a shell of his once-great self. Tom Haberstroh of ESPN.com said watching the former MVP was becoming a burden:

Rose finished the game with zero points on 0-of-5 shooting, four assists, three turnovers and two rebounds. He's understandably rusty after missing so much time the last few years due to two serious leg injuries, but eventually you hope to see some progress.

Team USA hasn't yet needed Rose to secure a victory, but things could change as the Americans get deeper into the tournament. 

Next up, Team USA will play the winner of the Dominican Republic-Slovenia matchup on Tuesday, Sept. 9. The Americans played the Dominican Republic in the group stage, winning a 106-71 blowout.