In the second match of the FIBA 2023 World Cup European Qualification Group I, the National Men’s Basketball Team lost 79-72 to Serbia on the field. After the match, the National Team Head Coach Ergin Ataman and his player Furkan Korkmaz and the Serbian National Team Head Coach Svetislav Pesic and his player Jagodic-Kuridza attended the press conference.
Ergin Ataman stated that they should analyze the match in two parts and used the following statements:
“We started badly. We couldn’t stop Jokic at the beginning of the match. We scored in every under-pot position. When we came in, we ate Jokic’s outside shots. We couldn’t create a position with turnovers in offense. We started with two bigs in the second half, we kept hitting Jokic constantly. We tried to speed up the game by making double and triple compression and closing the pass channels. We were successful in this, we became partners in the match. We are in a position to win the match, but in the last 3 minutes, I find the referee’s whistles incredible. They showed great disrespect to the Turkish National Team. I hope FIBA too He especially examines the last period of this match. Nonsense technical fouls were played. A Serbian team that constantly objected. This match was a very difficult match. It is one of the biggest favourites of the European championship. We fought very well in the second half. I think we made this fight into the European Championship. I think we will get better results if we carry it. I would like to thank the fans who supported us. At the end of the match, the referees threw the ball into the basket. they didn’t. Maybe offense fouls on Cedi. But there was a Serbian team that played like American football. We will look ahead. I congratulate my players for their struggle in the second half.”
“Larkin will get used to it”
Regarding Shane Larkin being played as the quarterback, the experienced head coach said, “He’ll get used to it. We have two scoring forwards there. Larkin was unlucky today. He missed his own shots on offense. He didn’t score some, he tried to make extra passes. He’ll get used to this system too. It’s a different team. This is a different team. We got good support from Melih from the bench. Yes, our other players are young players. Our opponent is an experienced team. We couldn’t rest the team anymore. Larkin is also tired,” he concluded.
Furkan Korkmaz, one of the star names of the National Team, said, “We left the match in the second half. Of course, we made a great comeback with the support of the fans, but we could not finish it. We are doing this professionally. We should forget about today and prepare for the European Championship. “We have the capacity to do so. I believe we will succeed. We fought very well in the second half as a team. We will rest a little and continue the preparations for the European Championship,” he said.
Pesic: “We put a big character”
Svetislav Pesic said that they played an important match and won an important victory, and said, “We played the game we wanted to play in the European Championship in the first 20 minutes. We had a little difficulty in offense in the second half, we lost rhythm. We put a character in. I think we prepared well for the European Championship,” he said.
Jagodic-Kuridza from Serbia stated:
“We had a great first half, but we knew the second half would be tough. They came back and struggled. At the end of the game, we showed character and we won. We are very happy.”