WONJU (Korea) - There were no letups this time around as Korea defeated China in convincing fashion, 90-76, to sweep Window 1 of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 Asian Qualifiers on Monday night.
Energized by an electric home crowd at the Wonju Gymnasium, the crew got off to a blazing start and never looked back on the way to proving that their win against Team Dragon last Friday in Beijing was no fluke.
The Koreans came into the match in high spirits after stunning the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 silver medalists by way of an 80-76 result at the Wukesong Arena and repeating in their own floor would make it all the more sweeter.
Coach Chun Heechul and his charges did just that, posting a win so dominant that should further alleviate the heartbreak that their long-time foes dealt them in the continental tilt's Quarter-Finals last summer.
Key players
Four players finished in double figures in the victory, with Lee Junghyun starring as he fired 24 points behind 9-of-11 shooting from the floor, highlighted by a near-perfect 6-for-7 clip from beyond the arc
Lee Hyunjung supplied 20 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists as he continued his fine play from two nights ago, in which he fired 33 points behind 9 triples to shatter a World Cup Qualifiers record for most threes in a game.
Ha Yungi delivered 17 points, 8 of which he made in the opening period to help preside over their solid start that set up the rout. Lee Weonseok chipped in 10 off the bench as a total of 8 players scored at least 3 in the win.
Turning point
Team Korea actually yielded the game's first basket to Zhou Qi but that proved to be the only time that China would taste a lead, as Ha, Hyunjung, and Junghyun joined hands to give themselves a 20-7 advantage.
Stats don't lie
The gap would swell to as big as 32 and that's thanks to their concerted effort on both ends. They dished 23 assists in total and also forced China to commit 17 turnovers, mainly behind their 7 steals and 3 blocks.
Bottomline
With all that, the Koreans have now beaten China twice in a row for the first time ever at least in FIBA competitions, in the process taking the provisional lead in Group B with a pristine 2-0 record.
They said
"The first game against Team China, we played quite well until the third quarter. But in the fourth quarter, there was the press that Team China did against Team Korea and the team had difficulties in solving their pressure. But for tonight's game I think our team played quite well to solve the pressure that Team China was putting against us." - Chun Heechul, Head Coach, Korea
"We know that Team China is a strong team, and being able to beat them two times in a row, both at home and away, means a lot. I'm very happy about the victory that we got, and I'm giving a lot of props to our teammates and the coaching staff. Given that we had such a short time to prepare for this game, we were able to win tonight." - Lee Junghyun, Guard, Korea
"Having lost two games in a row in the FIBA window is tight. It's especially tough for us to advance to the knockout stage. We played very badly today compared to Korea. They played much better than us on offense and defense, that's how we lost the game." - Guo Shiqiang, Head Coach, China
"It's a very brutal fact that we lost two games in a row against Korea. We really need to review this game. We have a lot of areas we need to clean up. But I really believe that it's not our real level. We should be better than this. I think what we need to find is our fighting spirit like in the summer." - Hu Jinqiu, Center, China
FIBA