Coach Ahn Jun-ho’s national team lost in its debut game… Clash with Thailand in Wonju on the 25th
The Korean men’s basketball team lost to Australia in the first match of the 2025 International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Asia Cup qualifiers.
The national basketball team (51st in FIBA rankings) led by coach Ahn Jun-ho lost 71-85 to Australia in the first game of Group A of the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers held at the Red Energy Arena in Bendigo, Australia on the 22nd. 온라인카지노
FIBA Asia Cup
In this preliminary round, which will determine the team that will advance to the FIBA Asia Cup finals to be held in Saudi Arabia in August 2025,
24 countries will be divided into 6 groups and compete in a home-and-away format until February next year.
The top two countries in each group will advance directly to the finals,
and four of the six countries ranked third in each group will also advance to the finals.
Korea, which is in Group A along with Australia (4th), Indonesia (74th), and Thailand (91st),
has won both of the recent Asia Cups (2017 and 2022) and has not surpassed Australia,
which has the highest world ranking in Asia.
They started the preliminaries with one loss.
Coach Ahn Jun-ho, who was appointed as the new head coach of the Korean men’s national basketball team last month and returned to the field as an on-field leader after 12 years,
suffered a defeat in his debut game.
Against Australia, where 6 of the 12 young players were born after 2001, Korea performed well in the beginning.
With a strong defense that recorded 4 steals in the first quarter and forced 6 turnovers,
they tormented Australia and took a 15-14 lead.
Korean Men’s Basketball
At the beginning of the second quarter, Jeong-Hyeon Lee (Sono) played well,
scoring 8 consecutive points at 18-16, creating a double-digit gap (26-16) with 7 minutes and 20 seconds left.
At 3 minutes and 34 seconds before the end of the quarter,
Byun Jun-hyung (Sangmu) hit a 3-pointer to increase the lead to 33-20.
However, Korea faltered somewhat afterward and allowed the chase to end, finishing the first half with a 40-36 lead.
At the end of the third quarter, Korea maintained a tight lead of 57-53, but gave up the momentum in the fourth quarter.
Korea gave up offensive rebounds one after another, made mistakes, and was hit by consecutive 3-point shots, allowing a 61-64 lead 6 minutes and 6 seconds before the end.
However, in the see-saw game, La Gun-ah (KCC) got into foul trouble and the mood changed. had a hard time
The players’ field goal success rate dropped sharply as they became impatient, and their defense gave up several outside shots,
putting the game behind them at 67-77 with 2 minutes and 20 seconds left, effectively dividing the game.
National team captain La Geon-ah recorded the most in the team with 21 points and 14 rebounds, and Byun Jun-hyung, Lee Jeong-hyeon, and Ha Yoon-gi (KT) added 9 points each.