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Preview: GB v Luxembourg

GB picked up an important win in Kosovo on Wednesday

Details

GB v Luxembourg

FIBA EuroBasket 2021 Pre-Qualifier

Saturday 10th August, 7pm

National Basketball Performance Centre

Intro

GB will be hoping to go two for two as they look to build on Wednesday’s win over Kosovo at the National Basketball Performance Centre on Saturday night.

Opponents Luxembourg are also looking to maintain their winning start, having picked up an 88-80 win over Kosovo last Saturday.

The opposition: LUXEMBOURG

Luxembourg join the third round of the FIBA EuroBasket Pre-Qualifiers after a difficult second round campaign which saw them win only one game. Luxembourg were paired with Cyprus and Portugal in Group C, where they only managed to defeat Cyprus on one occasion 89-76.

Their main performers include 6’6 power forward Alex Laurent who’s currently averaging 14 points per game in the competition to lead his side in scoring. Laurent plays his club basketball for Netherlands side Den Helder Suns. He is joined at the other forward position by 6’7 Oliver Vujakovic, averaging 12 points and 7.8 rebounds per game on 46.5% shooting. Vujakovic played for TS Innsbruck-Sparkasse in Austria last season.

In addition, the pair are joined by 6’3 point guard Bob Melcher from Luxembourg side BBC Amicale Steinel. Melcher is averaging 12.8 points and six rebounds per game to go along with five assists so far in the FIBA EuroBasket Pre-Qualifiers.

Luxembourg are placed behind Kosovo as the 96th best team in the FIBA World rankings. It has been over 60 years since the country last qualified for a EuroBasket competition, after last competing at the EuroBasket in 1951 in Paris and EuroBasket 1955 in Budapest where they finished in 15th place.

TEAM NEWS

With the full 24 man roster at his disposal ahead of any game, Head Coach Nate Reinking will have some decisions to make ahead of confirming his final 12 players for tomorrow night’s game.

A mixture of youth and experience will be available to Reinking on top of the 12 who featured on Wednesday, with Dan Clark, Gareth Murray, Jacob Round and Eric Boateng all back in the mix.

How to watch

Tickets to the game are available to purchase here.

The game is also being streamed live on BBC Sport online, via the website, app or iPlayer. For more, click here.