Samodurov shines with career night for Greece; Ukraine take down Georgia | FIBA Basketball

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MIES (Switzerland) – The FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 European Qualifiers tipped off with Greece starting their campaign in style with a convincing win thanks to Alexandros Samodurov producing a career night and Oleksandr Kovliar poured in 31 points for Ukraine in an opening win.

Sixteen teams are in action throughout the continent on Thurday while 16 more will be playing their first games of the Qualifiers on Friday.

Daily Highs

Efficiency: Oleksandr Kovliar (UKR) – 30
Points: Oleksandr Kovliar (UKR) – 31
Rebounds: Viacheslav Bobrov (UKR) – 15
Assists: Daron Russell (ROU) – 8
Steals: Diogo Brito (POR) – 4
Blocks: Bakary Dibba (DEN) – 2

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Samodurov steps up for Greece

A couple months after snapping their 16-year podium drought by taking third at the FIBA EuroBasket 2025, Greece proved too much for Romania in Group B. Hellas locked up a 91-64 victory at Nick Galis Hall in Thessaloniki by jumping ahead by double digits in the first quarter and never looking back.

Greece’s 20-year-old star talent Samodurov, who contributed 4.9 points and 4.6 rebounds at EuroBasket 2025, shined in his first action in a FIBA Window with 16 points, 7 rebounds and 2 steals. Giannoulis Larentzakis scored a team-high 18 points with 4 three-pointers and debutant Elijah Mitrou-Long added 13 points and 6 assists in the win. Mihai Maciuca was Romania’s top scorer with 13 points.

In the other Group B game, Portugal collected their first-ever win over Montenegro with an 83-62 road victory. Portugal, who this summer grabbed their first top 16 EuroBasket showing since 2007, pulled away with a 20-5 run to start the third quarter. And Mario Gomes’ team did a good job not allowing Montenegro get close.

Travante Williams scored 16 points and Ricardo Monteiro picked up 13 points for Portugal, who had lost their only two matchups against Montenegro. Marko Simonovic tallied 13 points as the top scorer for Montenegro.

Kovliar’s 31 points carry Ukraine past Georgia

Ukraine started their campaign with a strong performance on the road, knocking off Georgia 92-79 in Group A. Ukraine flipped the script in the third quarter with a 23-13 period and Ainars Bagatskis’ side just kept rolling in the final frame.

Oleksandr Kovliar was out-of-this-world with 31 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists for Ukraine, who also had Viacheslav Bobrov collect 11 points and 15 rebounds. Duda Sanadze was the leading scorer for Georgia with 22 points.

It was an emotional night for Georgia with Giorgi Shermadini being honored beforehand in his last home game for his national team.

Spain opened a new era with Chus Mateo as head coach, and the two-time world champs avoided a slip-up in their Group A opener by getting past Denmark 74-64 on the road. After a tight first frame, Spain claimed control with a 20-10 second quarter to lead by 12 points at the break. And the Spaniards’ quality was too high for Denmark to make a threat.

Jaime Fernandez paced Spain with 15 points and Great Osobor had 12 points and 8 rebounds in his national team debut. Denmark could not use Tobias Jensen’s 20 points.

Results

Group A
Georgia 79-92 Ukraine
Denmark 64-74 Spain

Group B
Greece 91-64 Romania
Montenegro 62-83 Portugal

Group C
Serbia vs Switzerland (19:00 CET)
Türkiye vs Bosnia and Herzegovina (19:00 CET)

Group D
Italy vs Iceland (20:00 CET)
Great Britain vs Lithuania (20:30 CET)

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