Before he left for Colorado Springs, Colo., to try out for Team USA’s World University Games last month, Ohio State swingman Evan Turner was flashing a wide grin in anticipation of representing his country and eager to experience life overseas.

Several weeks later, the 6-7 Turner is now back in Columbus holding a bronze medal from that July 2-12 competition, but that isn’t what tarnished his trip to Belgrade, Serbia. Instead, Turner admitted feeling some hurt with how the Americans were treated before, during and after the seven games there.

“It was different,” Turner told local media at a press conference today. “Beside the fact that they booed it was an all right reception. They enjoy themselves and I guess it was a memorable experience and whatnot. It happens.”

Turner tried to shrug off his disappointment, but it was obvious that some of the negative had lingered, especially when a reporter asked him what he will remember from the whole experience.

“Actually, I just remember being booed, to tell you the truth,” he said. “That’s pretty much it. It was a great opportunity, but I’ll just remember being booed and not winning. If I’m ever given that opportunity again I’ll know how important it is to win at all costs.

“That was the toughest thing to tell you the truth, going out there and being in third place and losing. It’s always horrible to lose and I hate losing. Nothing bothers me more.”

The American squad – which also included All-Big Ten compatriots Robbie Hummel of Purdue and Talor Battle of Penn State as well as Deon Thompson of North Carolina and Da’Sean Butler of West Virginia – went 6-1 on the trip, including a tough two-point victory over host Serbia at the end of pool play, a hard-to-swallow 69-68 loss to Russia in the medal round and a 91-80 win over Israel in the third-place game.

Turner contributed 10 points and three assists in the final contest on July 12, which kept alive America’s streak of medaling in every World University Games in which a USA Basketball team has competed. The United State is now 131-8 all-time in World University Games play and owns a record 13 gold medals, three silver medals and three bronze medals.

However, there wasn’t any celebrating from the Red, White and Blue afterward and Turner admitted still feeling let down. It also still bothers him that he had to play the role of the villain.

When asked how playing against Serbia overseas compared to, say, facing Michigan State and the infamous “Izzone” at the Breslin Center, Turner said, “It was way worse fans, to tell you the truth. That was a tough situation. We were getting booed every second. It was kind of frustrating.”

But at least the fans were making derogatory comments in another language, right?

“No, I understood what they were saying,” Turner said. “I understood everything they were saying.”

OSU’s Jantel Lavender, a star center who also made the trip to compete for the U.S. women’s team, confirmed the ugliness. She sat in the stands and rooted on Turner and the men’s team during the heated game with Serbia and was still in amazement while describing that scene.

“It was like one whole section giving us the finger,” said Lavender, who greatly helped the women win the gold medal. “I was just in awe. It was entertaining actually seeing how angry they were and what they were cheering. The game was physical and we had to get escorted out by like 100 cops. They were like around our whole group because the fans were so crazy.”

The men held up, but just barely, in a 68-66 victory.

“We won the game, so that was the good thing, being able to quiet the 23,000 people in there,” Turner said. “That was great. They were even madder at us after the game. They were coming up to us on the streets and just telling us we cheated and everything and how they were going to beat us later in the week. It never got to that, but it’s still a good memory to win on foreign turf.”

Lavender described that game as “extremely physical.”

“The Serbians were stocky and just like 6-8 and all muscle,” she said. “Those guys were so big. You just have to be enrolled in any class to play in the World University Games. Those guys looked like they could have been 30. It was like men playing against college guys.

“I was just so proud of our guys for pulling that game out, but in our next game against Russia I guess that Serbia game had just taken so much out of them and it just didn’t go their way.”

[BREAK]

When asked what prompted that defeat, Turner said, “A couple missed shots here and a couple bad calls there. We just lost by one and they played tough.”

Turner said after that game “a couple people were complaining about the ball not being moved around.” It was then that he made a conscious decision to be more of a distributor even though he was arguably the team’s most consistent scorer in the training games in Colorado and in the exhibitions overseas that preceded the tournament.

“I figured I could do a better job of just passing the ball around and getting teammates involved,” he said. “I was just trying to build a chemistry and camaraderie and keep everybody happy. When you’re all all-stars you all kind of have egos here and there. I was trying to make it easier and fit in instead of standing out, because I thought that might not be the best thing.”

Turner ended up being Team USA’s leading assister with 18 in the seven games and was efficient in his ball handling with just six turnovers. However, he ended up ranking last on the 12-man squad in scoring at 4.0 points per game, registering just 28 points in the seven contests. He also was eighth in rebounds at 3.7 per game.

Turner shot 52.2 percent from the field and 80.0 from the free-throw line but averaged just 16.3 minutes per game, which ranked ninth on the squad. He started three games, playing both wing positions for head coach Bo Ryan.

Turner, who was recruited heavily by Ryan out of Westchester (Ill.) St. Joseph’s and nearly opted to accept a scholarship offer to play at Wisconsin, intimated he may not have fit Ryan’s system.

“To judge his offense is kind of tough because it was like come down and mostly throw it to the post,” said Turner, who led OSU last season in points, rebounds, assists and steals. “It was kind of different. I just knew I was going to play ball and rebound and play defense and do typical stuff.”

Turner, though, still praised the coaching of Ryan.

“He stayed on us,” he said. “He stayed on me a lot and tried to push our team and I just learned a lot just as far as being tough and sticking things out. He’s all about getting the job done, making that one play and making the most out of every opportunity. I think he’s really big on that.

“What I learned the most is I think I’ve developed patience. Sometimes things didn’t go my way. Sometimes trying to adapt to a new environment and a new offense is kind of tough. But you’ve got to work with different people and I think I handled it better from growing up as a person and a player than anything skill-wise.”

Turner said he hit if off with Hummel and Battle and also came away more bonded with Butler. Ironically, he’ll face all three of them next season.

“They’re good guys,” he said. “I really enjoyed their company. They’re just good people in general.

“My teammates were good teammates. They were pretty comical and I met a lot of good people and enjoyed myself. We hung out with some USA girls and the Great Britain people. It was cool. It was nice.”

As for his opponents, Turner said he had to adjust to the idiosyncrasies of the European game and they way it is called by international officials.

“For the most part they are trying to beat you up a little bit in the paint,” he said. “They have little tricks to their game where they would pass the ball off and run through the paint and grab your arm and it’s a foul on you. Little nonsense stuff like that.

“But they all play tough and they are overall good people. They enjoy playing the game and they were really friendly to us for the most part, most of the other countries.

“I think it was just a great experience overall and I had a great time. You couldn’t help but get close to everybody and the girls were great. We were just so close, and I think that’s what made us overcome the different type of coaching styles. Everybody was just so open to making new friends. It was just a great experience just being with the girls alone.”

Turner especially heaped admiration on Lavender, who offered her support during the trip as Turner dealt with his struggles.

“I might have gotten irritated here and there and she’s a real calming person,” she said. “She’s a real ideal person to talk to because she carries herself well and she’s been through these situations before and she’s a good friend. Genuinely, she’s a good person, everything you see. She’s an amazing, beautiful person and I really appreciate her.”

Turner said he relied on comfort food while in Serbia – he hit McDonald’s almost every day – and took notice of the stark contrast in culture from America.

“It’s different out there,” he said. “I’m glad to be back, I know that. I was counting the days to come back. It was different. No. 1, the food, and some days we not always have hot water and TVs and certain things like that.

“But the Serbians really appreciate where they came from, they’re really proud of their country, and that’s what counts – making the most of what you have and being proud of what you area.”