Over the weekend, Marquette men’s basketball transfer Sananda Fru was over in Europe on his first ever call up to the German national team as Germany played the final two matches of the first round of European qualifying for the 2027 FIBA World Cup. Germany had already clinched a spot in the second round, so this miiiiight have been the directors opting to go for more of a developmental squad for these games, but no matter how Fru got on the roster, he contributed to two wins.
Germany beat Israel
92-86 back on Friday in a neutral site game in Latvia, as Israel can not host games on account of the ongoing Gaza war activity. Sananda Fru came off the bench for 19 minutes of action in that game, possibly boosted by starting center Leon Kratzer picking up four fouls in just eight minutes of action. Fru ended up with four points, five rebounds, an assist, a block, and a steal. I don’t want this to sound like I’m being dismissive, but for the record: This is not Fru coming up big when Germany needed him to in a close contest. The Germans were up double digits for nearly the entire second half, up to and including a 90-78 lead when the clock hit the 1:30 mark. Heck, the lead was nine points with 10 seconds left, Guy Palatin threw in a three as time wound out. Still: Better to have notable contributing minutes in your senior national team debut, right?
On Monday, Germany had a little bit more trouble with Cyprus, as the Germans actually trailed for 1:54 in the first quarter. They made up for it in the second, running off a 34-10 frame on their way to a 111-79 victory. Sananda Fru had a bit of a better game, going for 13 points on a perfect 5-for-5 from the field in 18:39 of playing time, and he added four rebounds, a steal, and a block. Once again, Leon Kratzer started but he played just 7:12, he just didn’t have the foul trouble on this one.
All told: 23 points, nine rebounds, an assist, two blocks, and two steals in nearly 40 minutes of action. That’s not too far from what Fru did for Louisville per 40 minutes last season, so needless to say, I’d be pretty happy if that was his per-40 average for Marquette next season.
There are highlight packages for both games, you’re watching for #31 in black against Israel and in white against Cyprus.
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