WARSAW (FIBA Basketball World Cup European Qualifiers) - Poland had their FIBA EuroBasket 2017 campaign end in the Group Phase but they won't have to wait very long to dive back into the heat of battle.

Mike Taylor's team will take on Lithuania, Hungary and Kosovo in the FIBA Basketball World Cup European Qualifiers with games tipping off in November.

Taylor spoke to FIBA.basketball on Friday.

Before you know it, Poland will be playing big games again in the World Cup Qualifiers. You'll host Hungary on November 23 and three days later play at Lithuania.
We're excited. We played both Lithuania and Hungary this summer. I'm looking forward to the challenges. We're looking at the World Cup Qualifiers with a lot of enthusiasm and energy. The best part about EuroBasket is that we will try and use it for growth and development. We hope to have a great home-court advantage in the Qualifiers, and play in front of the home fans and to build a winning basketball culture. I'm hopeful we'll have a lot of fans there. It's exciting to think about.

Tomasz Gielo, 24, gained valuable experience at FIBA EuroBasket 2017

How are the players taking the early exit from the FIBA EuroBasket?
Taylor: I think we're all a little disappointed. I think our group deserved a better ending but you are what your record (1-4) says you are.

"WE'RE LOOKING AT THE WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS WITH A LOT OF ENTHUSIASM AND ENERGY. WE HOPE TO HAVE A GREAT HOME-COURT ADVANTAGE AND PLAY IN FRONT OF THE HOME FANS TO BUILD A WINNING BASKETBALL CULTURE. IT'S EXCITING TO THINK ABOUT." TaylorTaylor

What's your initial assessment of Poland's overall performance in Helsinki? You beat Iceland and two of your four defeats, to France and Finland, were by just three points.
I think we're competitive at European level, but we need to make that next step. We're not that far away, but we're missing a real difference-maker. If you take one of those and put them on this team, we're better. Obviously we set the goal to advance and fell short but I'm really proud. There was a small margin of error for us.

The double-overtime loss to Finland was a tough pill to swallow.
Taylor: We had the game in position to win against Finland. AJ Slaughter also took a hit to the thigh and missed the last two games. But for the future, we like the direction we are moving in. We're young, developing. The players are competing all over Europe and developing and we have five or six players in the ACB (Spanish Liga Endesa). We're looking forward to continuing to grow our core, to push Polish basketball forward.

FIBA