Sipahi, Ali Muhammed back for Turkey's games at Sweden, Latvia
ISTANBUL (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers) - Turkey coach Ufuk Sarica is keeping faith with the majority of the players that featured in big wins over Latvia and Ukraine in November's World Cup Qualifiers for this month's key clashes.
Turkey have a February 23 game at Sweden, which has been sold out for a month, before visiting Riga to take on Latvia a second time on February 26.
Kenan Sipahi, one of Turkey's standout guards at FIBA EuroBasket 2017 who was not selected for the November games, and Ali Muhammed are included this time.
The naturalized Muhammed was one of Turkey's stars at FIBA EuroBasket 2015 and was poised to play at EuroBasket 2017 but got injured right before the start of the tournament.
| Turkey squad for FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers | |||
| Furkan Aldemir | Ege Arar | Dogus Balbay | James Metecan Birsen |
| Baris Ermis | Tolga Gecim | Huseyin Goksenin Koksal | Emircan Kosut |
| Melih Mahmutoglu | Ali Muhammed | Sertac Sanli | Kenan Sipahi |
| Ahmet Bugrahan Tuncer | Metin Turen | Berk Ibrahim Ugurlu | |
There is no Semih Erden, however, among the 15 players. The veteran center is still recovering from an injury he picked up in the November win over Latvia.
Furkan Aldemir, Dogus Balbay, Baris Ermis, James Metecan Birsen, Tolga Gecim, Huseyin Koksal, Melih Mahmutoglu, Sertac Sanli and Metin Turen are among the players who logged significant minutes in one or both wins for Turkey in the first window and that are back in the fold.
FIBA
