Preview: Luka, Slovenia looking to crash Poland’s house party

LIMASSOL (Cyprus) – With the first day of action at the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 now in the books, the spotlight turns to Cyprus and Poland where action is about to get underway.

The 12 teams in Groups C and D will offer up six tantalizing matchups on Thursday.

Who is going to get a morale-boosting win right off the bat and who will have to go back to the drawing board?

Key Storylines

• Reigning champs Spain take on Georgia and Toko Shengelia;

• Doncic suits up as Slovenia look to spoil Poland’s house party;

• Greece and Italy partake in an European classic in Limassol.

Group C: Champs take on Georgia in opener

Group C sees reigning champions Spain start off their campaign to retain the title on a tough assignment as Georgia, led by Toko Shengelia and Goga Bitadze, hope to spoil the start to Sergio Scariolo’s last dance. Host Cyprus will have a mountain to climb looking for a win on home soil against Bosnia and Herzegovina, whereas Greece and Italy will cap off the opening day up with a battle of European powerhouses – a battle for top spot in the group too, perhaps?

Did you know?

• Willy Hernangomez averaged 17.2 PPG in FIBA EuroBasket 2022 with only two Spanish players averaging more at a single event in the 21st century: Pau Gasol seven times and Juan Carlos Navarro twice.

• Cyprus will become the 48th team to make their debut at the FIBA EuroBasket, becoming the first to do so since Iceland in 2015.

• Giannis Antetokounmpo averaged 29.3 PPG in FIBA EuroBasket 2022, the highest scoring average by any player in a single EuroBasket tournament since his compatriot Nikos Galis in 1991.

_{All information has been provided by Opta.}

Group D: Doncic out to break hosts’ hearts

The whole of Slovenia now looks up to one man as Luka Doncic hopes to carry the 2017 EuroBasket champions into another long tournament run. In Katowice, group hosts Poland are the first obstacle and they have ambitious plans of their own at home. Group D also features the first big test of France’s new generation as the 2022 runners-up take on Belgium. Meanwhile Iceland will look for their first-everFIBA EuroBasket win against Israel.

Did you know?

• Israel have lost five of their last seven games in the Group Phase of the FIBA EuroBasket, whereas Iceland have lost all of their 10 games at the flagship event.

• Guerschon Yabusele was France’s second-leading scorer in FIBA EuroBasket 2022 with 14.8 PPG and the only French player to score 20+ points in multiple games at the 2024 Olympic Basketball Tournament.

• This will be Luka Doncic’s third FIBA EuroBasket game against Poland, the team he made his EuroBasket debut against in 2017 and played against in his most recent FIBA EuroBasket game in 2022.

_{All information has been provided by Opta.}

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