Highlights: Italy vs Slovenia in Basketball World Cup (85-89)

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END OF GAME

Nikolic hits 2 of 2 free throws to put Slovenia ahead. However, the game remains tight at 81-78

Slovenia failed to take advantage. To their credit, the Italian team stepped up the pressure and equalized at 76-76 through Spagnolo

Slovenia forced to call a time-out after Italy went ahead 70-73

Italy has a greater attacking presence than in the previous stage and Ricci takes advantage to score

Ends Q3

Dragic turns 3 and the Slovenians open up a 12-point lead

Slovenia goes on to win 57-49 and tries to manage the lead it has built up

Doncic recovers on the defensive side, works with Prepelic, who plays for Hrovat to make it three more

Break

Ends Q2

The match remains tight. When one team tries to take the lead, the other goes in and takes it

Spissu converts a basket from 3 to make it 34-28 for the Italians

The game was more even. Slovenia narrowly won the game, but Italy came back and equalized again at 23-23

Dragic scored from a free-kick and set up two more to make it 18-18

Ends Q1

Italy opened up a five-point lead, got as close as eight, but Slovenia relied mainly on Doncic to close the gap

The Italians reacted quickly and soon led 10-4, with a dunk from Polonara

Tobey hit a jump shot to open the scoring with two points

High ball

Pred nami še zadnja tekma poletja 🫡#mojtim | @TelemachSi | @SloveniaInfo pic.twitter.com/gvgKKaNGl8 — Košarkarska zveza SIovenije (@kzs_si) September 9, 2023

👀💪#Italbasket | #FIBAWC #WinForItalia pic.twitter.com/uWlIocCaZJ — Italbasket (@Italbasket) September 8, 2023

In the second phase, the qualified teams play two more games, only against teams they haven't faced yet. Adding up all the points from the two phases, two teams advance to the quarter-finals

The two best teams in each group will advance to the second round, taking into account the results obtained in the first round.

The second phase will be between the following groups:

Group I (first and second-placed teams from group A + first and second-placed teams from group B)
Group J (first and second from group C + first and second from group D)
Group K (first and second from group E + first and second from group F)
Group L (first and second from group G + first and second from group H)

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Jaka Blazic, Sasa Ciani, Jakob Cebasek, Ziga Dimec, Luka Doncic, Zoran Dragic, Gregor Glas, Gregor Hrovat, Urban Klavzar, Aljaz Kunc, Miha Lapornik, Jurij Macura, Blaz Mahkovic, Jordan Morgan, Aleksej Nikolic, Bine Prepelic, Klemen Prepelic, Ziga Samar, Mike Tobey.

Guglielmo Caruso, Luigi Datome, Mouhamet Diouf, Simone Fontecchio, Niccolo Mannion, Nicolo Melli, Alessandro Pajola, Achille Polonara, Gabriele Procida, Giampaolo Ricco, Luca Severini, Matteo Spagnolo, Marco Spagnolo, Marco Spissu, Stefano Tonut, Riccardo Visconti, Tomas Woldetensae.

Slovenia finished the first phase of group F in first place, undefeated: three wins in three games, giving them six points. However, they finished second in group K with nine points from one win and one defeat. The Slovenians lost to Canada and then to Lithuania in the match between fifth and eighth place.

During the first phase, Italy finished top of group A with five points, having won two and lost one. They then finished the second phase with a 100% record - two wins in group I. In the decisive phase, they lost to the United States in the playoffs and to Latvia in the semi-finals between 5th and 8th place.

Group A: Angola, Dominican Republic, Philippines and Italy

Group B: South Sudan, Serbia, People's Republic of China and Puerto Rico

Group C: United States, Jordan, Greece and New Zealand

Group D: Egypt, Mexico, Montenegro and Lithuania

Group E: Germany, Finland, Australia and Japan

Group F: Slovenia, Cape Verde, Georgia and Venezuela

Group G: Brazil, Islamic Republic of Iran, Spain and Ivory Coast

Group H: Canada, Latvia, France and Lebanon.

The tournament's biggest winners: United States (5), Brazil (2), Argentina (1), Spain (2) and the former Yugoslavia (5) and Soviet Union (3).

The Basketball World Cup, also known as the FIBA Basketball World Cup, is an international men's basketball tournament organized by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA). Like the Football World Cup, the Basketball World Cup takes place every four years and brings together the best national basketball teams from around the world.

The first Basketball World Cup was held in 1950, and since then it has been one of the most prestigious events in the world of international basketball. Teams such as the United States, the Soviet Union (now Russia), Spain, Australia and Yugoslavia (now independent nations) have featured prominently in the competition over the years.

The United States has been remarkably successful in the Basketball World Cup, winning several titles over the years. However, the popularity and participation of NBA players in the Summer Olympics often attracts more attention than the Basketball World Cup.

The current edition, in 2023, will have three venues: Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines. The current edition has 32 teams, divided into eight groups of four. Two teams qualify for the next round and so the round of 16 begins, just like the soccer World Cup.

Italy vs Slovenia live this Saturday (9), at the SM Mall of Asia Arena at 4:45 am ET, for the Basketball World Cup.

My name is Izabelle França and I’ll be your host for this game. We will provide you with pre-game analysis, score updates, and news as it happens live here on  VAVEL USA.