The blue-and-yellows lost to Portugal in the last minute
Mentor of the Ukrainian men’s basketball team Vitaly Stepanovsky commented on the defeat from Portugal (77:79) in qualifying for EuroBasket 2025.
“We started very softly and played terrible defense. Portugal scored 47 points in the first half. They took almost all the offensive rebounds. We made stupid losses and couldn’t pick up the ball on offense.”
“Five turnovers in the first quarter gave the opponents confidence, they made incredible shots. In the second half we returned to the game, the match became tense. In the end they didn’t use fouls in the best way. We let Portugal score three three-pointers in the final seconds of possession. It is very difficult. In the last attack they didn’t do what they had prepared in the time-out. Made a loss. A heavy defeat for us.”
“Congratulations to Portugal. We need to draw conclusions and play our best in the next window. Thanks to the fans who came to support us. We couldn’t win. Difficult game. We conceded a lot of easy points in the first half. We changed our defense in the second half. It bore fruit. We were close to victory. In the end they played very stupidly. We couldn’t use fouls and do what we agreed on. We will draw conclusions and move on.”
With two defeats, Ukraine closes the standings of Group A. Let us recall that in the first round the blue-yellows lost away to Slovenia (73:87). To qualify for the EuroBasket finals, the Ukrainian national team must take one of the first three places in the group.
Stepanovsky’s team will hold the next two qualifying matches in November 2024 – the blue-yellows will fight Israel twice.
Source: Sportarena
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