The Slovenian men’s national team looks to build its first winning streak at EuroBasket when it takes on Iceland on Tuesday. Currently sitting in fourth place in Group D, Slovenia (1-2) aims to stay afloat and improve its chances of advancing to the knockout stage.
Start time and TV schedule
Who: Slovenia vs. Iceland
When: 8 a.m. PT, Sept 2
Where: Spodek Arena, Poland
Watch: Courtside 1891
Slovenia’s much-needed victory versus Belgium on Saturday was a huge confidence boost for a team that didn’t start
the tournament on the right note. They dominated the Belgians (86-69) by finding the perfect winning formula, which was to go small early and force switches. Of course, it helped that Luka Dončić had himself a historic night once again, putting up 26 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists, which is only the fourth ever triple-double in EuroBasket since 1995.
Now in the winning column, Slovenia looks to build on its first victory of the season and there’s a high chance they can achieve that against Iceland, which has yet to win a single game in the tournament. Iceland is returning to the EuroBasket tournament for the first time since 2017.
This match is the perfect opportunity for Dončić and Slovenia to put together another convincing performance in order for their point difference — currently at -1 — to improve. Point difference is both a group tiebreaker and will help determine where Slovenia is bracketed in the knockout stage if they make it.
It would be nice to see Dončić’s teammates continue to gain steam in this one. In Saturday’s victory, Klemen Prepelic scored 12 points, nine of which from the 3-point range. The likes of Leon Stergar, Edo Muric and Luka Scuka all also made their presence known, combining for 24 points. Slovenia also controlled the rebounding department (43-32) and owned the paint by scoring 40 of their 86 total points inside.
This is the formula that the Slovenians must follow every game in order to give themselves a chance. By now, we know that they’re a below-average shooting team and the only way they can win games, besides heavily relying on Dončić, is to dominate the paint and limit self-inflicted errors.
Iceland’s offense starts and ends with their international superstar Martin Hermannsson, who will certainly get the most defensive attention. The key is to limit Hermannsson and his teammates like big man Tryggvi Hlinason and guard Elvar Már Friðriksson. If the Slovenians can do just that, they should win their second straight game of the tournament.
Notes and Updates:
- For more insight on how superb Dončić has been in this tournament thus far: His triple-double performance last Saturday made him the fastest player to reach at least 400 points, 100 assists and 100 rebounds in EuroBasket history. The Lakers superstar accumulated all those stats in just 19 games.
- Dončić also became the youngest player to reach 400 points in EuroBasket since Tony Parker did it in 2007.
You can follow Nicole on Twitter at @nicoleganglani.
