EAGLES’ REX GETS FRENCH BOW

Newcastle Eagles’ Rex Pflueger will make his Great Britain debut against France on Friday.

The newcomer is the lone new cap for the EuroBasket qualifier in Pau (5pm UK) with Cam Hildreth and Kareem Quigley left out of the initial 14-man roster. Both remain in the bubble and available for Sunday’s game against Montenegro.

Group G’s other game sees GB’s rivals Germany take on the Montenegrins (8pm).

Great Britain: Dan Clark, Ashley Hamilton, Myles Hesson, Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye, Ben Mockford, Luke Nelson, Teddy Okareafor, Gabe Olaseni, Rex Pflueger, Tarik Phillip, Conner Washington, Akwasi Yeboah.

“It has been challenging with the parameters which have been set but the guys are ready to play,” said Marc Steutel, interim head coach once again with Nate Reinking required by the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers.

“We’re prepared, we have a specific kind of game plan, and now we’ve just got to go and implement it against the sixth best team in the world.

“There’s a reason France are a basketball powerhouse. Whether it’s the team that finished third in the world cup or the team that’s won EuroBasket previously, they have a lot of depth. They’ve got guys in who haven’t been in previously but still play in the ACB for example. They’re talented, they’re well coached – the coach has been around for a long time – so, whether or not there’s any NBA guys, we’re still going against a strong French team in France.”

The game will be live at mvp247.com.

Steutel told the GB website: “We’ve done our scouting. The guys have been fed information throughout the week, so they know what to expect. Some of our guys play in France, they’ve played against these guys before, so we know we’re up against it. We know we’re in for a battle.

“We’re aware of the group we’re in, we were aware of that when the draw happened, but we want to qualify for EuroBasket. It’s a challenge – a significant challenge – but I think that’s part of the GB mentality. We go in with an underdog approach and we have to try and earn it.”