LILLE (EuroBasket 2015) - "I am not superstitious," Latvia's Janis Strelnieks says with a laugh as he strokes his still heavily bruised left eye, "so I don't think my black eye was our lucky charm to reach here."

"But I look very nice, no?"

Strelnieks looked really good indeed in Latvia's Round of 16 clash with Slovenia on Saturday, as he finished with 17 points, 8 assists and 6 rebounds to lead his team to a 73-66 win and their first trip to the quarter-finals of a EuroBasket since 2001.

The black circle around his eye, which he has been sporting since the eve of Latvia's EuroBasket 2015 opener against Belgium in Riga, is rapidly fading off.

Now that Latvia have secured a long stay in Lille, it will be increasingly difficult for TV commentators from other European countries who find it tricky to pronounce Latvian names to refer to him as the 'Latvian point guard with the black eye.'

But then, even the most pronunciation-challenged EuroBasket commentator or fan heard Strelniek's name on Latvian lips on so many occasions since Saturday that they know it only too well by now.

The 26-year-old is averaging 9.8 points, 5.5 assists and 3.3 rebounds but, most importantly, he is the man charged with making sure Latvia move the ball and space the floor as they should, based on their personnel and style of play.

I am the point guard, I have to move the ball, I have to talk to everybody. - Strelnieks

"That's what we're talking about in the locker room, when we move the ball everything is perfect," Strelnieks said.

"But when we try to dribble too much, or we stop the ball and don't move, that's when we run into problems.

"When we share the ball everything else works, like for example against Slovenia maybe we didn't score so many open shots but we stopped their offense, so everything flows better."

Before his superb night against Slovenia, Strelnieks had come big for Latvia in their last game in Group D against Estonia, dropping 21 points to steer them to the victory that gave them the all-important second place in that pool.

Point guards who score too much are not normally very popular with big men, but Strelnieks gets the credit he deserves from the ones on his team.

He [Strelnieks] is a complete player, a high-level point guard and in the last games he's found his rhythm. - Freimanis

"First of all, Strelnieks is our leader, I think he is our best player," Rolands Freimanis asserted.

"He controls the pace of the game, he decides when the team should run and when we should take it slow, he shoots when we need him to, he passes the ball when we need.

What exactly happened in those last games, after the loss to Ukraine which threatened to knock Latvia out of the tournament prematurely, in front of their home crowd?

"We didn't show out best game in the first games in Riga and it is natural that some people in Latvia were disappointed," Strelnieks said.

"But I think our character was good, we came together and we have finally found the chemistry in our team.

"Sometimes we fight with each other but in the last days we remembered that we can talk with each other, that we are one team.

This is probably our biggest success, at least in the last 15-20 years. But we're not done here yet. - Strelnieks

"I hope all Latvians are proud and happy now, together with us.

"The Olympics is our dream so we will fight for it with everything we have."

Latvia will get a first shot at fulfilling their dream on Tuesday.

A win against hosts France on Tuesday night and they would make the Semi-Finals, automatically clinching a spot in the 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments (OQTs).

As if beating the mighty defending EuroBasket champions is not already too tall of an order, Latvia would have to do it in front of at least 26,000 French fans, if the record-breaking crowd France attracted to their Saturday clash against Turkey is an indication.

"Well, that's just perfect," Strelnieks offers.

"Even though they will not be supporting us, it's the best feeling for a player [to play in front of this huge crowd], so I am very happy with that.

"I am looking forward to playing against Tony Parker, he is a great player.

"There is nothing to lose for us against France, of course we are the underdog because they have so many excellent players.

"So we will just come out and fight, there is no other chance.

"That makes it an easy game for us."

Win or lose, Latvia and Strelnieks aim to look good on Tuesday with so many pairs of wide-open eyes on them.

Go to eurobasket2015.org for complete coverage of EuroBasket 2015.

FIBA