DEBRECEN (Hungary) - Revenge will be on the mind for Turkey as they go into their FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2023 Semi-Final against Spain looking to avenge a heart-breaking loss last summer in the Final of the FIBA U18 European Championship 2022.

Spain and Turkey both are undefeated in Hungary after Spain rolled through a difficult Group A with wins over Canada, France and China and then defeated Lebanon in the Round of 16 and Argentina in the Quarter-Finals. Turkey took care of business in Group D with wins over Argentina, Korea and Hungary before beating Egypt in the Round of 16 and Canada in the Quarters.

Regardless of what has happened thus far in Debrecent, it's impossible not to think back to last summer's FIBA U18 European Championship 2022. Turkey were hosting in Izmir and lost to Spain 64-56 in the group stage. The two youth powers met up again in the Final and Spain prevailed again, 68-61. Turkey committed 21 turnovers in the game and Spain made 17-of-30 free throws compared to 6-of-12 for Turkey. Rafael Villar scored 20 points and Izan Almansa was unstoppable with 14 points, 15 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 blocks for Spain. Turkey's four leading scorers all came off the bench as the starting five combined for just 20 points.

Spain v Turkey - 20:00 CET

Key Matchup: Samet Yigitoglu v Izan Almansa - Turkey big man Yigitoglu will have his hands full against Almansa, who is looking to add a third MVP trophy after getting the award at the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2022 and FIBA U18 European Championship 2022. Almansa is averaging 17.4 points on 64 percent shooting and 92 percent on free throws along with 7.4 rebounds - 3.0 of them from the offensive glass, 2.0 assists, 1.4 steals, and 1.0 blocks per game. Yigitoglu will need to avoid foul trouble while also producing on offense to make Almansa work at the defensive end.

Turkey will not forget Spain celebrating on their home court last summer

X-Factor: Motivation - as in Turkey's extra motivation to beat Spain after the Iberians left Izmir with the U18 European title after fighting off the host Turkey. Eleven of the 12 Turkey players are back from last summer's team while Spain have eight players returning from the U18 team.

Stats Don't Lie: These are two of the top four scoring teams in the competition (88.2 points per game for Spain, 3rd, 85.8 points per game for Turkey, fourth) and both shoot the ball well from deep (Spain 1st at 35.5 percent, Turkey 2nd at 34.9 percent). Turkey must keep Spain off the offensive glass where Spain are tops in the event with 18.6 offensive rebounds per contest. Spain also rank second in fewest turnovers at 13.0 per game while Turkey average 17.0 turnovers per contest. Spain are averaging 16.2 fast break points and 19.2 second chance points per game.

Past matchups

 
Spain are 40-23 all-time versus Turkey in youth European Championships and World Cups, including Spain winning the Finals of the 2019 and 2022 FIBA U18 European Championships  The teams have only played three times at the U19 World Cup and Turkey are undefeated in those games, beating Spain twice in 2007 - in the second group stage and the seventh place game; as well as the 2015 group stage.  

They Said: "We beat them in the European Championship and they will compete really hard against us because they will want to beat us. That is a fact," Spain forward Jordi Rodriguez

"Last year we lost against them. That will be our biggest motivation. It will be a big rematch but we want to win it this time," Turkey small forward Karahan Efeoglu