Mishula: We are a strong strong team that can beat everyone

National team defender of Ukraine in basketball Oleksandr Mishula commented on the defeat of the blue-yellow team of Turkey (72:85) in the final match of the group round of pre-qualification of the 2024 Olympic Games.

“We had a bad start in the third quarter – a bad stretch of 4-5 minutes, and also in the fourth quarter we made 4-5 unforced losses, because of which the opponent was able to create a handicap. And it was hard to get them. We were preparing for this team and were 100% sure of ourselves. But prevented losses and a breakthrough in the fourth quarter. There were no surprises from them, but they almost managed to cope with themselves.

“After the game, we were a little upset, because we wanted to win. We knew we could do it. It doesn’t matter who we play against – against Turkey or against someone else. You can win against every opponent.”

“We were upset, but the coach told us to forget about this match. We’ll see who we play next, but it will be Croatia for sure. Any team can be beaten, and we will sort out the next opponent and prepare.”

“The bottom line is that we are a strong strong team that can beat everyone. We will do our job and we will continue to prepare,” Mishula concluded.

The team of Vitaliy Stepanovsky eventually took second place in Group C. Türkiye won the first line. In the playoffs, the Blue-Yellows will meet the winner of Group D, where Croatia is leading before the last round.

Earlier, at the tournament in Turkey, Ukraine won two victories, having won a place in the playoffs ahead of schedule. In the first pre-qualification match, our team beat Bulgaria in overtime, and then turned out to be stronger than the Icelandic team.