PODGORICA (Montenegro) - Montenegro head coach Zvezdan Mitrovic seems to have liked what he saw at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers, keeping the core of the team intact for the Final Round in China. 

Among the 11 returning players, Nikola Ivanovic, who averaged 14.0 points and a team-high 4.8 assists, and all-around big man Bojan Dubljevic are set to form the trio of leaders together with the big-name addition of Nikola Vucevic.

The latter, who had breakthrough 2018-19 season with the NBA Orlando Magic, had last featured for his country at FIBA EuroBasket 2017.

It's a deep and talented roster that will try to make waves in Nanjing's Group F against Brazil, New Zealand and Greece.

Montenegro head to China as a World Cup debutant, and coach Mitrovic knows too well the importance of taking opponents seriously. After beating Poland and Iran in last week's warm-up games, Montenegro fell short to Nigeria 89-86.

Asked to talk about the challenges they will face in Nanjing, Mitrovic said: "There was talk of New Zealand as an outsider, and they beat Italy, and they played great against Serbia and France. 

"Brazil [head to tournament] almost without defeats in their warm-up games and Greece are medal candidates. We are in an extremely difficult group, that is obvious, and our attitude is the same. We are preparing for every game and we will try to give the maximum."

Nikola Ivanovic was superb for Montenegro throughout the European Qualifiers

To advance to the Second Round of the tournament, Montenegro will need to finish in the top-two places of their group, and if they do, they will move on to Group K in Shenzhen to face the best two-placed teams from Group E, which consists of Turkey, Czech Republic, USA and Japan.

FIBA