GREEN LIGHTS UP SLOVENE REVERSE
Great Britain lost 97-87 to Slovenia in their opening pre-EuroBasket friendly on Friday.
Led by 19 points and eight rebounds from Cheridene Green in Trbovlje, Chema Buceta’s side could not construct an unassailable advantage when they raced 9-0 at the outset.
Even though Eilidh Simpson put the visitors 44-34 ahead with 4:30 left in the second, the Slovenes began their rally immediately with seven unanswered points and they concluded the period with an 8-0 burst to move 49-46 ahead.
And while consecutive three-pointers from Chantelle Handy allowed GB to lead briefly in the third, a 14-3 flurry erased their cushion for good with the hosts – driven by a game-high 22 points from Teja Oblak – continuing to increase their cushion to as much as 15 in the fourth, procuring 29 points off 19 turnovers from Buceta’s line-up.
With backcourt offense at a premium, Jo Leedham and Handy added 12 apiece for GB who shot 50% from the field but just 8-19 from three-point range as the home side notched 14-30.
Newcomer Kennedy Leonard was the odd woman out on the 12-player game day roster. GB now face Sweden on Saturday in Lasko.
Meanwhile, as revealed by MVP, Karl Brown has been named as head coach of Great Britain’s Under-20 men for next month’s European Championships in Israel. Assisted by Neal Hopkins and Dan Petts, the ex-England international will prep his team for their Division A with a tune-up tournament in Italy in early July before heading for a Euros where France, Montenegro and Turkey await in the opening group phase.
It is understood that Glasgow Rocks coach Vincent Lavandier lost out to Brown with senior GB cap Gareth Murray turned down for the role of assistant after the jobs were re-advertised following Marc Steutel’s departure.
Manchester Mystics’ Jeff Jones will coach the GB Under-20 women’s team, assisted by Krumesh Patel and Marg Jones. They will tune up in Greece before heading to their Europeans in Kosovo with their first game against Ireland on August 4 before a meeting Ukraine.
Do you like our work?
We have a tiny favour to ask. In 2018 we set out to make Hoopsfix sustainable by building our relationship directly with our readers. Up until now, Hoopsfix has been creating editorials, videos and podcasts to provide sorely missing coverage of the British game and its distinct culture and community.
We have funded Hoopsfix with our freelance work creating basketball media, but sadly that means not only does it fall behind our client’s priorities, but some of those clients are the same organisations we need to report objectively on putting us in a conflicted position.
We want to devote more time to our mission of helping British basketball reach its potential, and produce even more content for the basketball community by making Hoopsfix a sustainable 100% independent business funded directly by our readers through Patreon.
If everyone who enjoys our content chose to support us, our future would be much more secure. For as little as $3 per month, you can support Hoopsfix – and it only takes a minute.
We are tremendously honoured and humbled to have a community of people who value what we do, and we look forward to being at the forefront of the British game as it continues to evolve.
0 comments