The match in Istanbul will start at 9 PM, and we invite you to watch the entire event live together with 15min!
Lithuania enters this match from Group D. In the first stage, the national team won 3 games and lost 3. All results carried over to the second stage, where today Rimas Kurtinaitis’s trainees will begin their journey.
World Championship Qualifiers Group J
| Place | Team | Wins | Points |
| 1. | Turkey | 6-0 | 12 |
| 2. | Italy | 5-1 | 11 |
| 3. | Serbia | 4-2 | 10 |
| 4. | Lithuania | 3-3 | 9 |
| 5. | Iceland | 3-3 | 9 |
| 6. | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 2-4 | 8 |
In the preparation stage, R. Kurtinaitis’s trainees lost 108:110 in overtime to the Estonians, recognized the superiority of the University of Arizona 74:88, and defeated the University of Michigan students 96:84.
Although R. Kurtinaitis promised to take all fourteen candidates to Turkey before this crucial FIBA “window,” Laurynas Beliauskas and Karolis Lukošiūnas were thanked for their work while still in Lithuania, so the main twelve went to Istanbul.
Lithuanian men’s basketball team roster:
| Guards | Kristupas Žemaitis (Klaipėda “Neptūnas”), Augustas Marčiulionis (Vilnius “Rytas”), Dominykas Stenionis (without club). |
| Forwards | Matas Jogėla (Vilnius “Rytas”), Gytis Radzevičius (Vilnius “Rytas”), Justas Furmanavičius (Utena “Juventus”), Osvaldas Olisevičius (without club), Mindaugas Kačinas (Sopot “Trefl”), Mindaugas Kačinas (Sopot “Trefl”). |
| Centers | Regimantas Miniotas (Pesaro “Victoria Libertas”), Ąžuolas Tubelis (Kaunas “Žalgiris”), Donatas Motiejūnas (without club), Marekas Blaževičius (Kaunas “Žalgiris”). |
Turkish basketball players also had mixed results in the preparation stage. They lost 94:95 to Croatia in a friendly tournament after a decisive Mario Hezonja shot but later vented their anger on the Czechs with a 99:84 win.
Led by Ergin Ataman, the European vice-champions are advancing confidently and won all six games in the first qualifying stage.
- August 31: Lithuania – Bosnia and Herzegovina
- November 26: Lithuania – Serbia
- November 29: Bosnia and Herzegovina – Lithuania
- February 26: Lithuania – Turkey
- March 1: Serbia – Lithuania
It is worth emphasizing that these two teams have faced each other fourteen times in official matches, with Lithuania winning eleven times.
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Will they manage to secure the twelfth victory today? We will find out soon.
