After a week of practice in Providence, the team of BIG EAST Conference men's basketball standouts arrived in Lima, Peru, on Saturday to represent the United States at the Pan American Games.  Men's basketball competition begins on Wednesday, July 31, when the U.S. team meets Virgin Islands at 10:30 a.m. ET.
 
Butler's Tyler Wideman, a 2018 graduate who owns program single-season and career records in field goal percentage, is part of the 12-member team. Rising senior Sean McDermott was part of the Team USA training camp, but removed himself from camp with a foot injury prior to the team's exhibition last week.
 
The basketball competition will be held from July 31 to August 4 at Dibos Coliseum.  Team USA will battle Venezuela on Thursday, Aug. 1 (ESPN Deportes), and Puerto Rico on Friday, Aug. 2 (ESPNU), in Pool A play.  The Pool B participants are: Argentina, Dominican Republic, Mexico and Uruguay. 
 
Medal round play will be conducted on Aug. 3-4.
 
The BIG EAST Conference is representing USA Basketball at the Pan American Games. Providence's Ed Cooley is the team's head coach.  Kevin Willard of Seton Hall and Mike Martin of Brown are the assistant coaches.
 
The Pan American Games is a multi-sport event featuring teams from North, South and Central American and the Caribbean, which is organized by the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO) and played every four years in the year preceding the Olympics (2019, 2023, etc.).