PATRAS (Greece) - One of Oleksandr Lypovyy's favorite memories of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2014 was facing the United States. The versatile shooting guard hopes Ukraine can get through the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers and take on the Americans again in China - and this time beat them.

Lypovyy and Ukraine are still in the running to qualify for China 2019 with a 5-5 record in Group I. They need to win both of their games in the final window - at home against Montenegro on February 22 and at Slovenia on February 25 - and still get a bit of help to qualify.

Oleksandr Lypovyy has been a constant for Ukraine, playing in 9 of the 10 Qualifiers thus far.

"We expect only to win both games. We don't have any other option. There is only one goal: We need to go to China," said Lypovyy, who has averaged 6.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.2 steals in nine games during the qualification.

Ukraine lost to Montenegro by six points and would therefore need to defeat the Balkan side by more points to gain the tiebreaker - not an easy task as Montenegro themselves are fighting to make their World Cup debut. 

"We play very good at our home," Lypovyy went on. "We need to play our game, starting first of all with defense."

Slovenia, on the other hand, have already been eliminated and could use their final home game in Ljubljana as a way to spoil things for Ukraine.

But the 1.99m (6ft 6in) shooting guard, who plays for Greek side Promitheas Patras, is not getting ahead of himself.

"First we need to beat Montenegro and after that we will change our focus in order to be ready for the game against Slovenia," he warned.

Lypovyy said the most recent window - in which they defeated Slovenia 82-54 and lost at Spain 72-68 - really gave the Ukrainians some encouragement for the final two games.

"The first thing was the effort and the willingness to play," he said. "We had one of the youngest teams in the window and this young generation gave us the power."

Even losing a close encounter against Spain - whom they beat 76-65 in Kiev last September - gave Ievgen Murzin's charges confidence.

"We were ready to give a big fight in Spain. They are a very good team, as everyone knows, and I think we did exactly that. It's very important that we were close to winning," said Lypovyy, who collected 10 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists in the game.

Ukraine are taking aim at playing in consecutive FIBA World Cups, which would be a major accomplishment for the country.

"It’s very important now because basketball in Ukraine will improve on many levels if we qualify for back-to-back World Cups. Our federation is working hard every year for the domestic league and for the national team. And if we go to China it will be a big step for future basketball in our country," Lypovyy said.

Another World Cup appearance could also give Lypovyy a chance to repeat one of his favorite basketball moments - facing the United States as he did at Spain 2014.

"I was so excited in 2014 that our first game was against USA. It was so interesting to see the difference and to play against the NBA stars," said Lypovyy, who had 6 points, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist, 1 block but also 6 turnovers in that game. "It was the best experience for me. If I go again this summer it will be very good and I hope to have United States in our group again - and this time to beat them."

FIBA