BARCELONA (FIBA Basketball World Cup) - Even as his team began to warm up for their final Group C game against Turkey, aware that the ticket to the Round of 16 at the FIBA Basketball World Cup was booked, the 'D' word lingered long in the mind of Dominican Republic coach Orlando Antigua.

"We were thinking of the Departure time to Barcelona, but the bigger 'D' word in my mind was our defense," the 48-year-old joked at the end of the game.

The 77-64 defeat in that game rankled the coach's mind not for the fact that it left the team finish third in Group C and set up a clash with Slovenia in Saturday's Round of 16 game at the Palau Sant Jordi, but more for the manner in which the team succumbed on the defensive end of the floor.

"We are not certainly playing what we are capable of,” he said.

"We are very excited about the opportunity to keep playing basketball for a couple of more days. It means a lot to this country.

"On the one side, the situation can't be any better for the national team. But at the same time, things have to certainly get better," he added.

"We are not getting our defensive schemes going."

Offensively, we are moving fine. But defensively we got to step it up a lot better. - Antigua

Team captain Jack Martinez called upon the whole team to stand up and be counted.

"We need a lot of team effort now," said the only player with any world experience having represented the team at the 2001 FIBA World Youth Championship in Saitama, Japan.

"Put aside the personal stuff for the next few days and just play team basketball. We are doing great so far. We have to continue doing that.

"Our biggest achievement is reaching the (FIBA Basketball) World Cup. Now we are going to Barcelona. You never know what we can pull off. We just need to trust each other."

Antigua put in perspective what his team faced in Bilbao.

"It's been tough playing five games in six nights and in a highly-even group. This was a group where each team was capable of beating the other teams. Except of course the USA. Every team came with a high level of intensity and we had to respond, he said.

But has playing in the "tough" Group C primed the team up for the Final phase?

"In a way, yes," he said. "To come out of this Group has been a big ask. We achieved that. So I can't complain much. But things are only going to get more challenging now.

"We won't have second chance."

The Dominicans play Slovenia for the first time in international competition. But then for a team that’s making their maiden appearance at FIBA’s flagship event, every game is a first game.

FIBA