LONDON » We interrupt the U.S. men’s volleyball medal quest, which continued Tuesday at Earls Court with a straight-sets victory over Germany, for some Philosophy 101.

"The temptation is to go big picture when you need to stay on the task at hand," three-time Olympian Reid Priddy said. "When you go to the Olympic Games, you learn the rhythm and cadence of this tournament and how important it is to go one play, one point, one opponent at a time."

Such coach-speak from players usually makes coaches swoon, but U.S. leader Alan Knipe wouldn’t even take credit for any ownership following the tidy 25-23, 25-16, 25-20 victory in 89 minutes.

"That’s a mantra that’s been going on from before I was coaching the team," said Knipe, who took over in 2009. "It’s about managing the moments and staying in the present. It’s easy to talk about it and very cliche, but you’re seeing it right now.

"We’ve got a couple key veterans who are real good at keeping us in the moment and making sure guys on the court aren’t wandering and worrying about things they shouldn’t. We’re getting really good veteran leadership from Clay (Stanley) and Reid."

Their play hasn’t been bad, either. Stanley, a Kaiser and UH alum, posted a team-high 13 spikes and added two aces, both of which came to wake the U.S. from a 4-0 deficit in the first set that forced Knipe to burn an early timeout.

"My comment to them was we didn’t need to get it all back in one serve," Knipe said. "But then Clay went back and did that."

Priddy added his typical all-around effort with seven spikes, four digs and two aces. For the second straight match, Donald Suxho made the offense go with precise passing. And Russell Holmes and David Lee combined for seven kill blocks.

Team USA hasn’t lost a set and plays Brazil, ranked No. 1 in the world, on Thursday. The Brazilians prevailed in four sets at their last meeting in November 2011 at the World Cup.

"We’re in this really difficult pool and it’s easy to start thinking ahead," Priddy said.

But everyone around Team USA knows that won’t happen.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

The U.S. got off to a slow start against Tunisia, then took off when coach Mike Krzyzewski went to his reserves.

Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Love scored 16 points apiece to lead Team USA to a 110-63 victory. Kevin Durant added 13 and Anthony Davis had 12 for the Americans, who will face Nigeria on Thursday night.

Anthony, Love, Deron Williams, Russell Westbrook and Andre Iguodala opened the third quarter with a 21-3 run, turning a surprisingly close 13-point lead into a 67-36 bulge before any of the more celebrated starters finally got to play in the second half.

JUDO

A female fighter from Saudi Arabia was cleared to wear a form of headscarf after a compromise was reached that respects the "cultural sensitivity" of the Muslim kingdom.

Judo officials had said they would not let Wojdan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani compete in a headscarf because it was against the principles of the sport and raised safety concerns. But an agreement was reached after several days of IOC-brokered talks between the International Judo Federation and the Saudi Olympic Committee, allowing her to compete Friday in the heavyweight division.

EQUESTRIAN

Zara Phillips gave the royal family plenty to cheer about, helping team Britain to a second-place equestrian finish behind Germany. Princes William and Harry and William’s wife, Kate, were in the stands to watch their cousin as she competed in the show jumping final portion of eventing.

BEACH VOLLEYBALL

Americans Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser rallied for a 19-21, 21-16, 15-13 victory against Spain and remain unbeaten in the preliminary round.

On the women’s side, Americans April Ross and Jennifer Kessy needed three sets to beat the Netherlands 21-15, 12-21, 15-8.

WOMEN’S SOCCER

The United States clinched first place in its group with a 1-0 win over North Korea. Abby Wambach scored in the 25th minute for her 141st international goal.

TENNIS

Andy Roddick spent less than an hour on the court during an emphatic loss to Novak Djokovic. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga needed a much longer run to advance against Milos Raonic.

Roddick lost 6-2, 6-1 to Djokovic in 54 minutes.

Tsonga of France moved on by winning the longest set in Olympic history. He beat Raonic of Canada 6-3, 3-6, 25-23. The final set lasted 3 hours and 257 points.

MEN’S WATER POLO

Ryan Bailey and Peter Varellas scored three goals apiece and the United States recovered from a slow start to beat Romania 10-8.

FIELD HOCKEY

Shannon Taylor scored late in the first half and the U.S. upset Argentina 1-0.

DIVING

Chen Ruolin and Wang Hao led China to its third diving gold in London, this one off the big tower in women’s 10-meter synchronized. China won going away with 368.40 points.

SHOOTING

American Vincent Hancock won his second straight gold medal in skeet with a score of 148.